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Descriptioiis of School Systems. 

1. state Education for the People in America, Europe, India, and Aiis- 
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9. A Day in my Life ; or Every day Experiences at Eton. Cloth, 16mo, 
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C. W. BARDEEN, Publislnr, Syracuse, N. Y. 



TEACHING IN 

THREE CONTINENT'S 

PERSONAL NOTES 



EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD 



W. CATTON CRABBY 




rl89© 



<!^'>' w^; 



SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHEK 

1895 



•^, \ 



v 



K. 



PREFACE 



The observations and inquiries with which this book deals 
were made for the sake of the information, and not with 
any view of pubhcation. 

Last year, 1 found myself able to indulge a cherished 
wish to renew and extend my acquaintance with some of 
the chief countries of Europe, and to make an extended 
visit to America, to which continent the attention of Austra- 
lians is being more and more directed. 

The people of the United States are essentially Anglo- 
Saxon. The circumstances which have altered, developed, 
modified — in other w^ords, made them Americans — have 
been similar to those influences which are giving distinctive 
characteristics to Australians. It is profitable for every 
Australian to study American history and institutions, if he 
would understand his country's destinies. English folk in 
new countries are untrue to their origin if they do not, 
untrammelled by traditions, with all the advantages of new, 
rich, and boundless fields of enterprise, progress faster than 
their relations in the Mother Land. An investigation proves 



iv Preface. 

that such is the case, but to a less extent than might 
reasonably be supposed. It also shows that development, 
following the line of least resistance, does not always take 
the expected course. 

Although I have not been actively engaged in Educa- 
tional work for some time, my interest in the subject is an 
ever-increasing one, and the study of the development of 
Public Education in America, where the conditions of life 
have been in so many respects similar to those which sur- 
round us in Australia, has been of particular interest. 

The comparisons I was able to make, as a result of my 
observations in Australia, America, and Europe, proved so 
interesting to the many educationists I met on both sides 
of the Atlantic, that I have yielded to their wish to publish 
them ; and I have found the task of collating this summary 
of my conclusions with respect to some of the prominent 
progressive educational questions of the day a very pleasant, 
although it has been a hurried one. 

Wherein the book deals with debatable questions, I 
have not hesitated to state my opinions, draw inferences, or 
make deductions, although perfectly aware that some will 
prove more or less erroneous. Just which, I do not know ; 
or, of course, I would not express them. A man in a life- 
time cannot compass truth ; but just as an instantaneous 
photograph is a true representation of a person at a par- 
ticular time, although special conditions may render it not 
typical — if, for example, it should exhibit him yawning— so 



Preface. v 

these impressions are a representation of things as I saw 
them, but may be only one of many phases which a more 
extended experience would reveal. Should a reader fail to 
recognise this, and so misjudge, he alone is to blame. A 
man who waits until he is sure, will probably die waiting, or 
will prove a bigot ; and I would rather make a thoughtful 
error than be guilty of an unreasoning correctness, and lose 
an opportunity of stating a conviction which may help in 
the slightest degree the solution of a problem. 

I would beg to tender my warmest thanks to the very 
great number of ladies and gentlemen who have placed me 
under a life -long debt of gratitude for the very many in- 
stances of courtesy and open-hearted kindness in the three 
Continents. The world is large, as it need be, to hold all 
the human fellowship therein contained. The world is 
small. It takes but twenty days to pass from Australia to 
the Great Republic — a Republic drawing yearly closer to 
the parent who, in the inexperience of young motherhood, 
drove her from her breast, to show the world what grit is in 
the good old Saxon Stock. .A brief week of rocking on 
the bosom of Britannia's protector, and the grand Mother 
Land is reached, hallowed with the traditions of Old Time, 
where Socialism jostles Conservatism, becomes acquainted, 
and finally, claiming brotherhood, is jostled in turn. In 
thirty days, and the traveller may again be treading the soil 
of the "New Land of the Golden Fleece," the Sunny 
South, England's fairest and brightest daughter, soon, I 



vi Preface. 

believe, to receive the blessing of her parent, whom she will 
not love the less, that she will obey the natural law in 
the evolution of nations — that Separation must precede 
Federation. 

My thanks are particularly due to Dr. Harris, United 
States' Commissioner of Education at Washington \ to the 
various officials connected with Education on both sides of 
the Atlantic ; and especially to Mr. George Ricks, B.Sc, of 
London, for kindly seeing this book through the press. 

W. CATTON GRASBY. 



Adelaide, South Australia. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE AMERICAN EDITION 



It gives me pleasure to introduce to my countrymen this 
comparative study of our school-system in connection with 
those of other nations. It is profitable to see ourselves 
through the eyes of others. In the attempt to justify our 
motives and our modes of procedure before the court of 
public opinion to which we always appeal, we are obliged 
to purify our motives and reduce to a consistent theory 
our methods. Criticism has its value, even when it pro- 
ceeds from the most unsympathetic sources. When from 
friends it is easiest to assimilate; when from enemies, it 
requires a greater effort on our part to separate the reason- 
able from the unreasonable. But all criticisms, whether 
from friends or enemies, are wholesome reading if they 
help us to see a deeper ground that explains our differences 
from our neighbours^ or on the other hand, if they goad 
us forward to better methods of procedure. 

In this book, we have the rare opportunity of seeing 
our Educational System as it appears to one of our large- 
minded cousins from the opposite side of the world. The 
various branches of the Anglo-Saxon family — at home in 



viii Introduction to the American Edition. 

Great Britain and widely scattered in Colonies round the 
world — are all engaged in working out the problem of 
local self-government. Different surroundings afford occa- 
sion for different devices, but each community profits by 
the experiments made by the others. Thus, within the 
past four years, many of the States of our Union have 
adopted the Australian ballot law. Doubtless this is but 
the beginning of mutual help in the solution of our greatest 
problem — the problem of purifying the suffrage system 
from demagoguery. 

We can be sure of a generally friendly treatment of our 
institutions from our kindred beyond the sea, for they are 
obliged to sympathise with our tendencies and aspirations, 
even if they condemn our means of realising them. 

In the matter of schools and education, we find in the 
German theory the deepest contrast to our own. The 
reform led forward by Pestalozzi and Frobel, and carried 
out into practice by the pedagogues of the German States, 
is a perpetual challenge to the educational methods of other 
nations. The Romanic and the Anglo-Saxon nations have 
always laid more stress on prescription than the Germanic 
nations have done. They have taken pains to fill the 
memory of the child with the prescribed conventionalities 
of intelligence, and have laid more stress on obedience to 
external authority in the matter of behaviour. 

The German theory takes for granted without the 
slightest question the docility of the pupil. The German 
pupil belongs to a knowledge-loving nationality. Hence 



Introduction to the American Edition. ix 

the German theory of education makes prominent the self- 
activity of the child as the supreme object of education. 
It repudiates foreign constraint, either in conduct or in 
intellect. It condemns memorising, as a process of en- 
slaving the intellect to prescribed items of information and 
opinion. It condemns the strict discipline of schools, as 
producing mechanical habits of obedience to the will of 
others. 

Hence it happens that the German school, at least 
theoretically, lays all stress on the process of awakening 
the pupil's mind intellectually. Critical alertness, and in- 
dividual power to test and verify the statements of others, 
as well as to undertake works of original investigation — 
these are the supreme objects of German pedagogy. 

Students of ethnology are aware, however, that nations 
differ in respect to their bent of mind. While the 
Germanic nations are knowledge-loving, the Anglo-Saxon 
nations love adventure and the exercise of will-power. 
The precocious English or American child exhibits an 
amount of restlessness and caprice, which compels his 
teacher to divert a large amount of nervous energy from 
the work of pure instruction, to the work that is called 
discipline or government of the school. The child with 
precocious directive power, and correspondingly small love 
of knowledge for its own sake, is very difficult to manage 
in the school. I take it that this explains why it is that 
in English-speaking countries, the work of intellectual 
instruction is always prone to degenerate into requiring 



X In-j'roduction to the American Edition. 

that work of the pupil which chiefly exercises the memory 
alone. Memorised work may be tested with the least 
possible trouble — the least possible distraction of the mind 
from the work of controlling and disciplining the school. 

For the last forty years, however, throughout English- 
speaking countries there has been the tradition of Pestal- 
ozzian methods in the air, and the loud and oft-repeated 
cry for reform of our methods of instruction. Finally, with 
the Frobelian Kindergarten, now being widely adopted in 
our cities, this reform has taken root in a practical manner, 
and is bound to effect a change in the methods of instruc- 
tion in all the grades or standards above it. Notwithstand- 
ing this, our schools will continue to lay more stress on the 
discipline side than on the side of intellectual instruction, 
so long as the idiosyncrasies of our people remain what 
they are. Stated in a language less technical, the English 
and American school is founded on the idea that moral 
education is more important than intellectual. 

In view of this trend of educational management, the 
very intelligent criticisms of Mr. Grasby will be read with 
profit by all our teachers and school directors. 

\V. T. HARRIS. 

Bureau of Education, 

Washington, U.S., 1891. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

PAGE 

Knowledge of Political and Social Conditions necessary to Proper 
Understanding of School Systems — Summary of Political System 
— General Appreciation of Value of Education — Reason for 
Absence of National System, and of Compulsory Laws— Edia- 
cational Work of National Government— Bureau of Education — 
Grants of Land — Smithsonian Institution — Education in Southern 
States— General Statement of American System of Education — 
Kinds of Schools — State Superintendent — County Superintendent 
— City Superintendent — School Government in Massachusetts — 
The District System— Tendency towards Centralisation— School 
System of Michigan — Organisation of Schools in Washing- 
ton, D.C I 

CHAPTER II. 

PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION {conthuted). 

England : Former Neglect of Elementary Education — Work of 
Voluntary Schools — Effect of the Act of 1870 — The Education 
Department — Favourable Comparison of England with United 
States in Provision for Elementary Education— Voluntary and 
Board Schools, how managed and supported — Powers of Man- 
agers — Comparison of Board and Voluntary Schools — The Science 
and Art Department. — Scotland : Similarity between English 
and Scotch Departments — Modification of Examinations — Result 
Payments.— France : How controlled— Council of Education — 
Departments— Academies — Three Grades of Inspectors— Primary 



Contents. 

PAGE 

Instruction — Secondary Instruction — Normal Colleges — Special 
Schools. — Gkrmany : Control by Government — Classes of 
Schools— Scope of each. — Australia: Similarity in all Colonies 
— Methods of Administration - Centralisation — Summary of School 
Systems — New South Wales- -Victoria— South Australia— Queens- 
land — New Zealand 24 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW WORK IS TESTED. 

The Need for a Test— A Difficult Problem— Plans followed in Ger- 
many and France— Methods adopted in the United States — Dis- 
cussion of Result Examinations in England and Australia . . 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW EDUCATION. 

KINDERGARTEN, ETC. 

Conceptions of Education— Cry for Practical Education — Terms Used 
— Scope of Work. — Kindergarten : Conceptions of Term — 
Nature of Frobel's Idea — Means of Attaining it — The Primary 
Grades of the United States - Language Lessons — Classes for 
Foreigners — Course of Study in Receiving Class, San Francisco — 
Want of Sympathy between Kindergarten and Primary Classes — 
Infant School of England described — No True Kindergarten 
connected with English Public Elementary Schools— The American 
Kindergarten— Philadelphia, Toronto, San Francisco, St. Louis 
Kindergartens described.— The Use of Pictures.— Drawing 
and Form-Study : United States ahead of England —Massachu- 
setts System— System of New York State— Supervisors— Private 
Enterprise in Training Teachers — Form-Study — Language Lessons 60 

CHAPTER V. 

THE NEW EDUCATION {contimced). 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION, ETC. 

English Conceptions of Technical Education— Sloyd— Liverpool Ex- 
periment—City and Guilds of London Institute Experiment — Mr. 



Contents. xiii 

I'AGE 

Ricks' Scheme of Hand and Eye Training — Dublin Experiment 
— Manual Training in America— Definition — Who shall Teach it? 
— Account of Various Experiments— New York City — Washington, 
D.C— Springfield — The Manual Training School — Course of 
Study, St. Louis — Public Free Manual Training Schools — Indus- 
trial Training in Paris— Course of Study.— Sewing : Better in 
England and Australia than in United States. — Cookery : How 
Taught in London — In United States — Fittings of a School — The 
Washington Experiment io8 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE NEW EDUCATION {continued). 
SCIENCE TEACHING. 

General Remarks — Official Science Teaching disappointing — Science 
Teaching in England — Science Teaching in the States — Science 
Teaching under the English School Boards — Mechanics— Methods 
of Instruction in Liverpool— In American Schools — St. Louis — 
Middletown — Boston — New York College — South Australia — 
Other Australian Colonies . . . . . . . .139 

CHAPTER Vn. 

TEACHERS AND THEIR TRAINING. 

General Comparison — Comparison of Methods of Training — English 
System gives Prominence to Practice — American more Educational 
— English Teacher studies Methods — American Principles — Causes 
of Difference between American and English Teachers — English 
Pupil-Teacher System — Training Colleges — American Normal 
Schools — High School Course and Normal Course — Prominent 
Characteristics of English Teachers — Prominent Characteristics of 
American Teachers — Normal Schools — Philadelphia — Cook 
County Normal School — Nature-Teaching — Newspaper Cyclo- 
paedia — Washington Normal Schools 173 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY MEANS FOR TRAINING TEACHERS. 

Teachers' Institutes : Majority of American Teachers not Normal 
Graduates — Reason for Frequent Changes — The Institute an 



Xiv COXTEXTS. 

I'AGE 

American Development — Professor McGrew's Plan — Scope of the 
Institute — Frequency in Indiana — Principles forming Basis of 
Institute — Proposal to make Work continuous from Year to Year. 
— Teachers' Associations : Voluntary Organisations under 
Various Names for Various Objects — Frequency in America — 
Round Tables — National Education Association — State Associa- 
tions.— Rhode Island Institute : Its Subscriptions Subsidized 
— Programme — Committee on Resolutions — On Necrology — 
Punctuality — Influence of Meetings — Attendance of Public 
Beneficial. — Teachers' Guilds : Not so strong as American 
Associations — National Association for Promotion of Technical 
Education — National Educational Association — Not Organised 
by Teachers — Industrial Education of New York — Liverpool 
Teachers' Guild — Objects — ^Notes of Meeting and Paper on Tech- 
nical Education. — Teachers' Associations in Australia : 
South Australian Teachers' Superannuation and Widows' Fund. — 
Teachers' Reading Circles : Objects — How worked — Diplo- 
mas — Specimen Courses of Reading — Chairs of Pedagogics. — 
Summer School for Teachers : Private Establishments — 
Natural under American Conditions of Life — How worked — Work 
and Recreation — A Summer Normal School— A Programme of 
Work.— Pedagogical Libraries and Museums : Germany and 
France ahead — Absence in England and Australia — Musde Peda- 
gogique of Paris — Scope of Work — Library and Museum of Bureau 
of Education, Washington.— Influence of Auxiliary Means : 
Not a Substitute but a Supplement— Good Teaching in Small 
Schools 196 



CHAPTER IX. 

MORE ABOUT TEACHERS AND EDUCATION. 

The Teachers' Status in England, America, and Australia— Proportion 
of Male to Female Teachers ^— How Teachers act towards 
Strangers 231 

CHAPTER X. 

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

Qualification of an Instructor — Of an Educator — Of the Perfect Teacher 
— Need for Good Appliances — American School-house more 
comfortable than English — Scope of American and English School 



Contents. xv 

I'AGF 

compared — Heritage of England in her Traditions — Style of School 
depends on its Scope and Organisation — Playgrounds— Height of 
Buildings — Do American Children play as much as English and 
Australian ? — Use of Drill — Leeds Higher Grade School — Single 
Class Rooms — Substitute Teachers — General Assembly not so 
frequent in America — What constitutes Good Order and Dis- 
cipline — Influence of Single Rooms on Corporal Punishment — Dr. 
Harris' Experience in St. Louis — Separate Class-rooms in Germany 
and Paris — Pupil-Teachers and Larger Rooms — Australian School- 
houses — Sombre Appearance of Parisian Schools — Arrangement 
of a Parisian School— Providing Clothes— Dinners for Children in 
Paris— French Infant Schools. — Ventilation, Lighting and Heat- 
ing— AnsXvdilia. — England — America. — School Furniture — Kinder- 
garten, Primary and Grammar Schools— Continuous Blackboard. 
— Teachers' .ffwwj— Spelling — Copying 243 



CHAPTER XI. 

ORGANISATION OF SCHOOLS. 

Position of Teachers in the States Schools— Teachers in English 
Schools — Number of Pupils under one Teacher — Proportion of 
Boys to Girls in America, England, and Australia— Compulsion 
in France, Germany, England, and the States — Attendance and 
Compulsion 273 



CHAPTER XII. 
EXTRA-OFFICIAL EDUCATION WORK. 

Natural History Societies : Huddersfield School Board— Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts — The Agassiz Association.— School Museums 
— Arbor Day — School Libraries — Pupils' Reading Circles . . 299 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PRIVATE MUNIFICENCE IN AMERICA. 

General Remarks— The Rindge School— The Pratt Institute— Cogswell 
Polytechnical College— New York Trade School— Leland Stanford 
University — Clark University 325 



t^ 



Teaching in Three Continents. 



CHAPTER I, 



PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION. 
United States of America. 

Knowledge of Political and Social Conditions necessary to proper under- 
standing of School Systems. — Summary of Political System. — General 
Appreciation of Value of Education. — Reason for Absence of National 
System, and of Compulsory Laws. — Educational Work of National 
Government. — Bureau of Education.— Grants of Land. — Smithsonian 
Institution. — Education in Southern States. — General Statement of 
American System of Education. — Kinds of Schools. — State Super- 
intendent. — County Superintendent. — City Superintendent. — School 
Government in Massachusetts. — The District System. — Tendency to- 
wards Centralisation. — School System of Michigan. — Organisation of 
Schools in Washington D.C. 

The national motto, " One out of Many," aptly describes 
the composition of the Great Republic of America — many 
states, but one nation ; freedom, diversity, competition, but 
unity. A commonwealth of commonwealths, it is in some 
respects different from all other republics. For some years 
after the close of the B-evolutionary war, each of the thirteen 
colonies carried on its own government almost independ- 
ently of the rest. There was indeed a loose union ; but it 
was rather a source of trouble than anything else. The 
people who had fought for freedom were afraid of a central 
government, lest it should again bring upon them the evils 

B 



2 Teaching in Three Continents. 

from which they had escaped. When finally die United 
States became a reality by the adoption of the constitution, 
it was only because this remarkable far-seeing composition 
most clearly defined the exact privileges which they gave 
up by joining the Union. They retained all powers not 
thus expressly and voluntarily abrogated. It may be in- 
teresting to notice the slightly different principle pursued in 
the Canadian Dominion, where the powers and privileges of 
the provinces are defined, all else being referred to the 
Federal Parliament. The Republic has limited the power 
of the superior legislature ; the other has defined that of 
the subordinate. To what extent, if any, this has to do 
with the very marked difference the visitor notices on going 
from the States to the Dominion, I could not, if it were my 
province, say ; but the difference exists. It is said that an 
Englishman feels at home when he crosses the St. Lawrence. 
The citizen of the sister Union says it is like stepping 
back a few years to visit among the " Royal Americans " ; 
but his opinion is not impartial, and the Canadian is not 
backward in retaliating respecting " Americans," as he 
oddly enough calls the citizens of the United States. 

The same idea is carried through all the gradations of 
government. Just as the States have full powers in all 
directions not defined in the Constitution, so they permit 
their own sub-divisions or counties to manage all affairs not 
affecting the interests of the State as a whole. In the 
same way the city, town, or township forms a third unit of 
self-government, with powers only definable by saying that 
the interests of the higher powers must not be infringed. 
For the purposes of Education, the ordinary political unit — 
the township, is sub-divided into districts, of which I shall 
speak later. So freely does the American citizen interpret 
this principle of the Hmitation of the greater, and the free- 
dom of the lesser, that liberty would soon turn to licence 
were it not that, after the novelty has worn off" the 



Public Fk oris ion for Education. 3 

consciousness of power is the surest foundation for for- 
bearance and consideration for others, and constitutes the 
difference between the showy military order of Germany, 
and the less regular, but superior, spontaneous self-govern- 
ment of England and America. 

It is by contrasts we learn, by comparisons we under- 
stand ; but perfectly fair comparisons cannot be made 
between institutions of different people in different lands. 
The American, or, indeed, any school system, cannot be 
understood except in connection with the spirit of the 
country. America is more democratic than England, but 
the Federal Government is more Conservative. It is 
Socialistic in asserting that everyone is equally a citizen, 
and in the eye of the Government he cannot be more. Its 
success depends more than any other on the higher and 
nobler instincts of man ; yet its papers are full of denuncia- 
tion and ridicule at the frequent and gross political 
corruption. It is admired and laughed at in turns. As in 
England, sovereignty is vested in the people; stabiUty is 
secured by a system of overlapping of authority. The 
people elect a President, and give him greater power during 
his term of office than is enjoyed by many despotic 
monarchs. He can veto a Bill passed by both Houses of 
Congress ; but Congress can pass it over his head by a two- 
thirds majority : yet if it be opposed to the Constitution, it 
is annulled by the Supreme Court, which, without exaggera- 
tion, is probably the first Supreme Court in the world. The 
President is restrained by Congress, Congress by the 
President, and both by the Supreme Court. Thus, before 
any vital change can be made, the Constitution, the pride 
and boast of every American, must be amended. Any 
desire for change which is persistent enough to outlast the 
time necessary to do this must be very deep-seated, and not 
a passing whim, or the result of a panic. 

The greater the power vested in the people, the greater 

B 2 



4 Teaching in There Continents. 

the need for their education. No better example of this 
exists than the related and corresponding progress of educa- 
tion, and the extension of the franchise, in England. The 
leaders of the labour organisations recognise it, and attribute 
all their success in the late struggles to Mr. Forster's Educa- 
tion Act and Board Schools. The illiterate remain ciphers 
in society ; or become the dangerous tools of unscrupulous 
and designing politicians. Americans know best what they 
have suffered from this cause. None see it more clearly 
than did the founders of the Republic. I quote expressions 
of Washington and Jefferson elsewhere. Referring to them, 
Boone says : " The sentiment was no forced one, nor 
exotic. It was familiar to the best men in every state and 
station : to John Adams, Madison, and Rush ; to lawyers, 
statesmen, and clergymen. It was so general, that the 
memorable saying of Chancellor Kent that ' the parent who 
sends his son into the world uneducated defrauds the com- 
munity of a youthful citizen, and bequeaths to it a nuisance,' 
was not more a mere personal opinion than an expression 
of widespread public faith"; and Dr. G. S. Hall said : *' In 
the United States he who does not send his child to school 
(which he should do for the same reason that he pays his 
taxes or fights in the time of war) must be regarded, in 
a peculiarly insidious sense, an enemy of the State." 

When such widespread and decided opinions were held 
by the framers of the Constitution of a country without a 
satisfactory compulsory law, or, in fact, afiy 7iational system 
of education at all^ the omission must be by design for the 
carrying out of a principle. This I believe to have been 
the conviction that education should he undertaken for its own 
sake, and when this was not sufficient, on account of a healthy 
public opinion. The majority of the American-born citizens 
were, and are, imbued with this spirit ; and this has been 
the chief hindrance to satisfactory compulsory laws. The 
wish has been to have education valued for the additional 



Public Provision for Education. 5 

power and opportunities it gives ; and to a great extent the 
effort has been successful. Many who are not open to the 
higher influence, nevertheless send their children to school, 
because the failure to do so entails a loss of respect from 
their fellows ; and no true American can resist this potent 
4:)0wer. Unfortunately, the hordes of low-class foreigners 
who annually flock to the country do not understand, and 
care not for one motive more than another. They go to 
America for freedom — a state they have not been used to ; 
and they mistake freedom for licence. 

One of the best examples of the appreciation of educa- 
tional advantages is the prominence given to school facilities 
in advertisements wishing to " boom " a western settlement. 
I do not mean it to be understood that the advertisers them- 
selves are actuated by benevolent motives, and wish to 
benefit their fellow^s ; but they, more than any class, know 
exactly what will attract the American people. When 
out West, I collected a number of splendidly illustrated 
and beautifully printed advertisements of Western settle- 
ments. One's first thought, if he is not well aware of the 
art of the land agent, is that in the wonderful West — and it 
is wonderful — Paradise has had the multiplying powers of 
the Australian rabbit. Among the chief attractions are the 
school facilities. Plates are usually given of — in the words 
of the advertisement — " elegant school-houses," showing 
that any new settler taking up his abode in the district will 
not have to deprive his children of that " inestimable boon, 
the dearest and most highly-prized advantage of the Ameri- 
can citizen, free public schools." To what extent, if any, 
the engravings participate in the prophetic spirit which 
enables the agent to see in a dry and dusty plain boundless 
smiling fields, yellow with waving corn, blooming gardens, 
and fruitful orchards, I am unable to say ; but in the few 
cases where I had opportunities of testing their correctness, 
I was surprised to find that, while the surroundings (although 



6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

quite possible with irrigation, labour, and time) were more 
or less imaginary, the public schools were really built, on a 
lavish scale, quite out of proportion to the present require- 
ments. It is a frequent saying that the " best building in 
an American town is the school-house." Like other say- 
ings, it frequently is only relatively true. 

The Federal Government of the United States has 
assisted education in three ways : — 

1. In 1785 it was ordered that in all new States there- 
after to be added to the seventeen then existing, a special 
appropriation of one-sixteenth of the public land should 
be reserved for the purpose of supplying a School Fund. 
Of the twenty-five States since admitted, a number have 
sold the lands to provide the initial expense of school- 
houses ; but many still derive considerable funds from this 
source. 

2. In 1867 the National Government founded at Wash- 
ington a central Bureau of Education. It is a section of the 
vast Department of the Interior, and costs, according to the 
last report, $51,000. It has no authority; but is charged 
with collecting information and statistics concerning home 
and foreign education, and circulating them for the benefit 
of the nation. Unfortunately for the completeness of its 
reports, it has no authority for enforcing the production of 
statistics or other information. This is not felt to be such 
a drawback in America as it would be elsewhere, on account 
of the love of publicity inherent in the American people, 
and their fondness for publishing elaborate and splendidly 
printed reports, which they distribute with characteristic 
liberality. Thus, although the figures cannot be depended 
on to the same extent as an English matter-of-fact blue-book, 
they are approximately correct ; and the annual report of 
the Bureau (a volume of some 1,200 pages) is a most 
valuable compilation of collected and original matter — not 
only to educators in America, where the diversified systems 



Public Provision for Education. 7 

render such a work particularly valuable, but in other lands 
where they are freely distributed. 

The Bureau also publishes frequent reports and mono- 
graphs on special departments of educational work. These 
are distributed without stint throughout the country, and 
must be productive of much good. In addition, it gathers, 
for additions to its bulletins, or for the use of Congress, 
numerous reports respecting the educational systems of 
foreign countries. Indirectly, its influence must be very 
great. The present Commissioner is the Hon. W. T. 
Harris, A.M., LL.D., who was formerly superintendent of 
the public schools of St. Louis, where he was the means of 
introducing Kindergartens in connection with the schools 
throughout the city. He has the reputation of being 
America's foremost writer on the Philosophy and Psycho- 
logy of Education ; and the usefulness of the Bureau is 
expected to be largely increased under his direction. 

There is a very fine pedagogical library connected with 
the Bureau, in which are to be found all standard works 
bearing on education, and a very large and valuable 
collection of pamphlets and reports. Sufficient material is 
also stored away to furnish a splendid museum of educa- 
tional appliances, illustrative of the school architecture and 
appliances in use in various parts of the world. Efforts are 
being made to induce the National Government to appro- 
priate funds for a new building, when the Pedagogical Mu- 
seum will be properly housed, and will prove of great value. 

The Smithsonian Institution does not come strictly within 
the scope of my remarks; but its great influence on the 
general education of the people, and the example it aftbrds 
of the liberality of the people of the United States in the 
free distribution of reports, makes it desirable that its work 
should be mentioned. Its foundation is due to the bequest 
of James Smithson ; and probably no man ever gained for 
himself such a memorial at such a comparatively small cost. 



8 Teaching in Three Continents, 

James Smithson was an Englishman of noble descent, a 
graduate of Oxford, with, as far as is known, anti-democratic 
tendencies, who had never visited the United States. He 
died early in the century, leaving his fortune to the people 
of the United States "to found at Washington, under the 
name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for 
the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The 
object of the extensive organisation — a mere fraction of the 
cost of which is provided by the bequest of the founder — is 
original research and publication. 

It is also the curator of the adjoining National Museum. 
Every public library throughout the world receives the pub- 
lications of this Institution, under the title of " Contributions 
to Knowledge." But the unique feature about its operations 
is that it is a sort of international knowledge exchange. It 
has agents in London, Paris, Leipzig, and Amsterdam, 
through which it distributes the publications of all the 
American learned societies ; while, on the other hand, 
academies and learned societies in Europe send over 
bundles of their publications to be distributed by the 
Institution according to a list sent by each society. 

There have been spasmodic efforts to found a National 
University at Washington; but the movement does not gain 
ground rapidly. It was George Washington's great wish, 
and will, no doubt, at some time be an accomplished fact \ 
and, when it is done, it will be worthy of the people, the 
city, and the nation. 

Previous to the civil war, I believe, no slave-holding 
State possessed a free school system. Since then all but 
two have adopted new constitutions, which include articles 
providing for free public schools, in some cases quite as 
liberally as the Northern States ; but, unfortunately, they 
cannot be carried out on account of the lack of funds ; and 
unless the Blair Bill becomes law, great progress may not 
be expected for some time. 



Public PiwrisioN for Educatiox. 9 

It was believed by the Northern States, where great 
importance had always been attached to education, that 
the lack of public schools in the slave States was one of 
the chief causes of the rebellion. This belief, that the 
lack of education lay at the root of the greatest disaster that 
has fallen on the Republic, has had an important bearing 
on the inclusion of articles relating to education in the 
newer States. In fact, so minutely has the North Dakota 
Convention gone into details with regard to the school 
lands, that one is ready to agree with the writer who thinks 
that "the framers of the State Convention have no con- 
fidence whatever in the good sense, judgment, and honesty 
of future legislation." 

Unless they are specially mentioned, my observations 
must not be taken to refer to the Southern States. While 
great progress is being made, education in the South is, 
apart from the fearful ignorance of the coloured population, 
in a backward condition. Taking the whole population of 
the Southern and South-Western States, illiteracy is in- 
creasing at a greater ratio than the population. It is on 
this account that the advocates of the Blair Bill wish the 
Federal Government to apportion about 80,000,000 dollars, 
from the surplus in the National Treasury, among the most 
illiterate States in proportion to the percentage of illiteracy ; 
which money shall be chiefly devoted to actual education, 
not the building of elaborate school-houses. It is almost 
certain that this will shortly be done, and the threatening 
danger averted \ and thus another precedent in favour of 
the National Government concerning itself directly with 
the education of the States will be established. 

Consideration of this subject affords a very good instance 
of how very misleading general statements may be, although 
in themselves correct. Roughly speaking, it may be said 
with truth that in two-thirds of the States education is in a 
more or less low condition. Perhaps even stronger language 



lo Teaching in Three Continents. 

might be used — Americans certainly speak more lorcibly. 
These States, however, contain little more than one-third 
of the population ; and if out of this number there be taken 
all those belonging to the numerous centres where the school 
systems are very efficient, and the children of those well-to- 
do people whose training is well looked after, but a com- 
paratively small proportion of the total white population will 
remain. There are enough and to spare to justify Americans 
in using all the vigour of expression at their command to 
arouse the people to remedy the evil ; but not enough for 
outside writers to conclude that the language so used applies 
to the people in general. 

Of the mass of the coloured people I do not intend to 
say much. I shall speak of a few schools in their place, 
and will only remark here that the conviction forced itself 
on my mind that the difficulty with regard to these un- 
fortunate people, instead of having been solved by the war, 
was only changed into a new and more perplexing problem 
by the amendment of the Constitution ; an amendment 
that gave them legal rights of equal citizenship with the 
whites, which the latter in many cases endeavour to pre- 
vent them from exercising. 

According to the last census and the present estimates, 
then, one-third of the States contain approximately two- 
thirds of the population. It is to this small portion — 
about one quarter of the area of the whole country — that I 
refer when making general observations. These may or 
may not be correct with reference to the rest of the country. 
If I included Alaska, the proportion would be smaller. 
Another comparison may be interesting. The total area of 
the States with which I deal is about equal to that of 
Queensland, the third in size of the Australian colonies ; 
and the population, roughly speaking, is somewhat greater 
than that of the British Isles. 

Although the systems of education in the States differ in 



Public Provision for Education. ii 

minor points, and sometimes have very distinctive features, 
there is sufficient similarity to enable me to make a general 
statement, after which I will give one or two examples of 
fairly typical systems in greater detail. 

The period of free attendance is usually from five or six 
to twenty or twenty-one years of age. The period of 
elementary education generally extends from six to four- 
teen, the first four years being spent in the Primary School 
or Department, from which in the ordinary course the 
pupil passes at the age of ten to the Granwiar School or 
Department. The terms Primary School and Grammar 
School are commonly used, even when the two depart- 
ments are under the one roof. In some places, on the 
other hand, the lower classes are spoken of as the Primary 
Grades, and the Senior as the Grammar Grades. The use 
of the term standard in the English sense did not come 
under my notice. Free secondary education is provided 
by all the States under consideration in the High Schools^ 
which take the pupils after they have graduated from the 
Grammar School. I shall speak of these schools in another 
chapter. 

Each State has its central educational authority, gener- 
ally a Board with a practical secretary or superintendent ; 
but sometimes merely a superintendent. The powers of 
this central authority vary greatly ; generally the practical 
working of the school system is left to the committee or 
School Boards of smaller administrative areas, each State 
being divided into counties, and each county into "town- 
ships," these being sometimes again divided into districts. 
Or the county may be directly divided into districts, as in 
the case of California. 

The constitution of these Boards or Committees varies 
greatly. The elective system largely predominates, and the 
personnel of the Boards is subject to frequent changes. The 
cities, beyond supplying statistics, are usually independent 



12 Teaching in Three Continents, 

of any outside authority. In California each city or in- 
corporated town, unless sub-divided, forms one school 
district. 

School Superintendence. 

The school superintendent is a peculiarly American 
development. He has no prototype elsewhere. The word 
itself is one of which the people are fond, and is used in 
many connections not usual in England. This is another 
example of the difference in meaning and use of the same 
word in the two great English-speaking lands. The oft-used 
word " captain," designating one in command of a ship or a 
mine, is generally discarded. The master of a ship becomes 
a commander, and he of the mine a superintendent ; and, 
just as the chairman of the board of directors becomes the 
president, so the office of manager in England becomes 
superintendent in America ; in addition to which, it is used 
in connection with education to designate an office which 
is unlike any in England or Australia. The student of 
American education will find at least four kinds of superin- 
tendents mentioned ; but no exact statement can be made 
as to the appointment or duties of each. There are State, 
County, City, and Town Superintendents, supervising more 
or less directly the schools of the political divisions of the 
same name. All the States of which I am speaking have 
State superintendents, in most cases supplemented by a 
Board of Education, of which he is, ex officio^ a member and 
executive officer. The chief functions of the Board are — 
(i) The distribution and management of the school funds 
derivable from lands, and of the legislative appropriations 
for education. (2) The supervision, directly or indirectly, 
of the training and examination of teachers. The super- 
intendent and his Board may, in many cases, be termed 
the political head of the school system ; and in some in- 
stances the political aspect predominates to an extent 
detrimental to the best interests of the schools. 



Public Provision for Educ. 



A TIOX 



County Superintendents. — All the charms of variety 
are to be found in connection with the appointment and 
duties of the County Superintendent. In thirteen States 
he is elected by the people. In other places the ap- 
pointment rests with the Governor, State Superintendent, 
or County Board of Education. As the various officers 
having the gift in their hands are elected, the one under 
consideration is influenced in the second degree by the 
vote of the people. The duties of a County Superin- 
tendent vary as greatly as his mode of appointment. In 
some States he is chiefly concerned in business affairs ; 
but usually he has to visit and inspect schools, criticise the* 
management and teaching, direct and counsel the teachers, 
and hold examinations for teachers' certificates. He has 
generally been a teacher; and in some States — California, 
for example — a teacher may contest an election for the 
office while in charge of a school, which he gives up if 
elected. One of the important duties of the superintendent 
is to hold institutes for teachers, of which I speak more 
fully elsewhere. 

City Siiperintendents. — Perhaps because I did not 
understand the full significance of the remark, I was fre- 
quently inwardly amused at what appeared to me an absurdly 
extravagant use of dignity on the part of City Superintendents 

in large cities, when they informed me " that the city of 

is quite independent of the County or State Officers of Edu- 
cation. It manages its ov/n affairs with as little reference to 
the State Superintendent as if it were in another State, only 
furnishing him with certain statistical and other informa- 
tion required by law." City Superintendents are often 
among the foremost educators of the country, and the 
schools under their care are equally a credit to themselves, 
and to the splendid cities over which they preside. At the 
same time, the superintendents, holding lofty ideals and 
considering that the fine work which has been done, is but 



14 Teaching in Three Continents. 

treading on the threshold of the possible, with the frank- 
ness of their nation, freely exhibit and court inspection 
of the indifferent equally with the good. They know that 
in comparison with others they have little to fear; but in 
contrast to the attainable the position is humiliating. 
Merely putting forward the latter comparison ; depreciating 
the excellencies, lest the object of improvement should be 
defeated ; wishing to rouse the people to a sense of the 
need for continued progress; they sometimes use language 
which leads to a false opinion being formed by outsiders. 
This is equally true with regard to the authorities in 
England and Australia. Before legislation or reforms are 
possible in self-governing countries, the public must be 
educated. The means taken to attain this end will be 
different, according to the peculiar conditions of the people. 
Unless due regard be paid to this fact, one is apt to 
attribute many of their actions to those causes which give 
the drum its value, or to which the pebbly brook owes 
its murmuring. 

Massachusetts. 

Mr. J. W. Dickenson, Secretary of the Massachusetts 
State Board, in reply to my question, " What are the 
special features of your school government ? " said : — 

"The State Board collects statistics, attends to the 
appropriation of money, provides and works normal 
schools, and exercises a control over all the schools of 
the State. The latter, however, is more by moral force 
than anything else. 

" Each town and district, as a centre or unit of the 
commonwealth, is called upon to elect a school committee 
to look after the education of the district. These com- 
mittees provide schools, and conduct them as they like 
within the law, which is very elastic. This Board has 
five agents, who visit the various towns and school 



Public Provision for Education; 15 

districts, and after doing so, call the committee together, 
and discuss the state of the schools and make sugges- 
tions. The committee may or may not accept and act 
on the advice ; but they generally do, and the visits are 
productive of much benefit. The agents also hold institutes 
in suitable centres all over the State." 

The District System. 

The district system, the extreme of decentraHzation, was 
the outcome of the reaction against monarchism, and has 
given character to American schools and to the people. 
The interest of every citizen was thereby enlisted in all 
public affairs. Every resident was supposed to under- 
stand the business of the district, the affairs of which 
were regularly discussed at the annual meeting, when 
the officers for the year were elected. The schools 
received their due share of attention, the control being 
vested in the school committee. 

Possessing many advantages, the system was open to 
evils. As a rule, the best men would be elected to the 
school committee, and as their intelligence was above the 
average of the community, it would be their desire to 
raise the general standard of knowledge. Unfortunately, 
ignorance is generally not self-conscious ; and thus the 
control would sometimes become vested in men who 
were apt to agree with the farmer — 

" There ain't no great good to be reached 

By tiptoein' children up higher than ever their fathers was teached." 

They did not know how to properly value a teacher, and 
were not enlightened, even if rich enough, to pay liberal 
salaries. Like all small communities, they had party disputes ; 
and energy, which should have been given to education, was 
devoted to quarrelling. Instead of the best teachers being 



i6 Teaching ix Three Continents. 

appointed, the " schools were taught " by those who could 
secure the greatest influence, or work for the least pay. 
No doubt the committee generally considered they were 
appointing the best teachers, but they were not good 
judges, and apt to agree that — 

" Whatever is done as to readin', providin' things go to my say, 
Shan't hang on no new-fangled hinges, but swing in the old-fashioned 
way." 

lulucation is either solely a family duty, or it is a State 
concern. That it is a matter of importance to the State 
is agreed ; and being so, its management should not be left 
to small communities. If this be done, the portions of the 
country most needing education will be left without it for 
two reasons : — 

(<7) Want of Funds. 

{l)) Want of Inclination. 

The poorer districts need the greatest educational care ; 
but the people are as unable to regulate as to provide it : 
this was amply proved in many places. 

In addition, the plan tended to cause the erection of 
many small schools where one large one would be more 
economical and efficient. This wasteful plan still exists ; 
but other reasons are assigned for it. In one town I 
visited there is one Grammar School, the upper floor of 
which is devoted to a High School. The building is a new 
and handsome one, as well adapted to its purpose as the 
American schools usually are. In the same town are some 
six primary schools. It would be infinitely better to have 
one central establishment ; but when I asked several people 
why such was not done, I received the reply that in the 
severe winters it is impossible for the small children to 
travel the distance most would have to do if the plan of 
having one large central establishment were adopted. This 
is a reason which cannot be lightly dismissed. As I 
was there on a lovely autumn day, it had not struck me. 



Public Provision for Education. 17 

The town is following the general tendency to central- 
ization seen everywhere in the States under consideration. 
The principal of the High School, in which there are only 
between forty and fifty pupils, is also superintendent of the 
other schools of the town, having an assistant to help him 
with his school, and take charge when he is away. 

This is again illustrated by Mr. Stock well. Superintendent 
of Schools, State of Rhode Island ; who, during an address 
before the Rhode Island Educational Association, at which 
some seven hundred teachers, and twice that number of 
friends were present, said : — 

" Legislation of the State has followed the onward 
sweep of the world, which is tending towards centralization. 
Rhode Island is taking the power out of the hands of town 
committees, and placing it where it can be looked to do 
its work." Indeed, I found a growing feeling in all the 
Northern States in favour of centralization, better super- 
vision, and a more careful attention to compulsory 
education. 

The unit of government in school affairs is being altered 
and enlarged ; and at the same time brought more into har- 
mony with,and more directly under the control of, the State 
Boards. More uniformity, a better class of men as managers, 
less party influence in the appointment of teachers, and 
consequently a better class of teachers, greater economy in 
management, and altogether a more advanced condition of 
education, is, I think, rightly expected as the outcome of 
the movement. 

Michigan State System. 

The educational organisation of Michigan is a com- 
bination of the District and Town systems, the former 
predominating. It may be taken as a type of many. The 
State is divided into counties, which are again divided into 
smaller divisions, known as "townships," consisting of 
c 



1 8 Teaching in Three Continents. 

several school districts, each of which has its School Board 
of three members — a moderator, a director, and an assessor. 
The duties of the Board are — to build school-houses, em- 
ploy teachers, and decide for what length of time the school 
shall be open. This formerly depended on how much 
money could be raised, and the smallness of the sum 
necessary to hire a teacher. 

Each township has a Board of three trustees or directors, 
whose main duty is to regulate boundaries of school districts, 
and visit schools. The County Board of school examiners 
consists of two members, elected by the chairman of the 
township Board of Inspectors ; and a secretary, who is, 
ex officio^ a member, elected by these two, acting with the 
County Judge of Probate. The secretary of the County 
Board visits, or causes his assistants to visit, each school of 
the county at least once a year ; counsels with teachers and 
School Boards as to the courses of study and discipline ; 
makes suggestions with regard to school buildings and 
grounds, heating, ventilation, &c. ; promotes the improve- 
ment of schools and the elevation of the character and 
qualification of teachers and officers; and receives the 
reports of the township inspectors. In addition, the 
secretary holds two regular, and not more than six special 
examinations for teachers annually. Certificates of three 
grades are granted, and are good for one, two, and three 
years respectively. Second- and third-grade certificates can 
be used only in the county in which they are granted, while 
those of the first grade have been made valid throughout 
the State. At the two regular examinations, the State 
Board of Education sends out sealed uniform questions to 
be used throughout the State. This Board consists of the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and three other 
members, elected for a term of six' years. It has the 
entire control of the State normal school, grants State 
certificates good for ten years anywhere in the State, 



Public Provision for Education. 19 

and prepares the cjuestiorjs to be used by the County- 
Board secretaries. 

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction nomin- 
ally has general supervision of all the public schools and 
State educational institutions ; collects and tabulates the 
school statistics ; and makes an annual report to the 
Governor. He organises and visits teachers' institutes ; 
appoints instructors for them ; and delivers lectures on 
educational subjects. He is general adviser of county 
superintendents, to whom he addresses from time to time 
circular letters giving advice as to the best manner of 
conducting schools, constructing school-houses, furnishing 
the same, and procuring and examining competent teachers. 
He has further to make such rules and regulations as may 
be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the 
Education Acts; be legal adviser of all school officers; and, 
when requested, give his opinion in writing upon any 
question arising under the school laws of the State. He 
has power to enforce the supplying of returns, reports, and 
any other requisite information from all authorities control- 
ling educational institutions. 

The District schools are known as " ungraded schools," 
(that is, they have pupils of more than one standard in a 
room, under one teacher), and are often poor. Many 
are only in session for a few months of each year. The 
teachers are frequently poorly paid ; and consequently are 
sometimes but ill qualified for their work. On the other 
hand, they are often able and bright, and are using the 
school as an opportunity for self-education, and to obtain 
means to provide for college expenses. Many of America's 
great men and women have been District teachers, and 
their influence must have been good. The men and 
women trained under these conditions are an example — 
although, I believe, not as good as those of Iceland — of how 
education may be carried on without schooling. With 
c 2 



20 ' Teaching in Three Continents. 

only from three to six months of attendance during the 
year, under an untrained and often comparatively illiterate 
teacher, in a school lacking all appliances — without even 
a blackboard — a lamentable condition of ignorance would 
be naturally expected. But pupils, at all events, learned to 
read. With this power, the long cold winter, a supply of 
books (and it is somewhat astonishing what books are to 
be found even in the back country), and the American fond- 
ness for lectures, an unexpected state of things is brought 
about. 

Above the Grammar School is the His^h School, which 
only admits pupils who have a grammar school certificate ; 
or, as the Americans say, have "graduated" in a Grammar 
School. 

A High School course extends over from three to five 
years, and usually provides for at least two courses of study : 
the one a preparation for the university, the other having a 
more direct bearing on commercial life. The High Schools, 
like the lower grades, are free. In Michigan there is an 
arrangement by which High Schools desiring recognition 
from the university are visited and examined by a com- 
mittee of the "faculty"; and if approved, have their 
graduates admitted to the university without further exam- 
ination. This last link towards connecting the lowest and 
highest departments of the school system is in operation in 
California, and some other of the newer States. 

For the purpose of providing professional training, a 
Free State Normal School is provided, which sends out 
about one hundred students annually. This does not 
nearly supply the demand for trained teachers : and there is 
a large number whose only training is obtained by reading 
and observation, or at the Teachers' Institutes. 

This State also has a State Agricultural College to 
promote its agriculture ; and the Michigan Mining School 
to foster the mining industry. Liberal provision is also 



Public Proi'isiox for Education. 21 

made for the blind, deaf, and dumb. Dependent children 
are provided with a home and educational advantages ; 
and youthful criminals are instructed in the State Reform 
Schools. 

The criticism which first rises naturally to one's lips, is 
that all this system, and the acknowledgment on the part of 
the State of the necessity of education as a guarantee of 
well-being, is useless, if the parent of a child is unwilling to 
take advantage of the means provided. There is no com- 
pulsion for those who would injure the State by bringing up 
children in ignorance. 

The lack of training on the part of the teachers is 
another weakness ; and associated with this is the poor pay 
they as a rule receive ; but of these points I shall speak 
elsewhere. 

Washington^ D. C. 

The organisation of the school system here has peculiar 
features. Education is under the direction of a Board 
appointed by the three commissioners in whom the Govern- 
ment of the Federal District of Columbia is vested. There 
are two systems of schools ; the one for white, the other 
for coloured children. The schools of both sections are of 
the usual three classes : — Primary, Grammar, and High 
Schools, each system being under its own superintendent. 
The coloured pupils follow the same course of study as the 
white, and there appeared to be very little difference in the 
character of the work ; but the pupils in the coloured 
classes are older than those in the corresponding grades in 
the schools for white children. I was much surprised to 
lind many pupils very nearly or quite white in the coloured 
schools ; but learned that, being associated with coloured 
people in their homes, they would not be allowed to attend 
with white children, even did they not choose to be with 
their young coloured friends. 



2 2 Teachixg in Three Contixents. 

The schools for white children are divided into six dis- 
tricts, each under a supervising teacher, who takes much of 
the work which usually falls to a principal. In fact, it is in 
this point that the chief peculiarity of the city's organisation 
lies. Each teacher works independently of the principal, 
being responsible to the supervising teachen The principal 
teaches a class — an unusual thing, as far as I could learn in 
the parts of America which I visited — and only differs from 
the other teachers in being responsible for the building, the 
playground arrangements, and any outside business which 
may have to be transacted with parents^ and so forth. 

The coloured schools have the same organisation, there 
being two supervising teachers. 

Result examinations have been abolished for about four 
years, and the change seems to have given great satisfaction. 
The course of instruction is carefully laid down by the 
Board ; and the superintendent and supervising teachers see 
that it is carried out. They make such frequent visits to 
the schools, at which they test the work in any way they 
see fit, that they are able, they say, to ensure much more 
systematic, regular, and careful teaching than when the 
work was chiefly tested by an annual examination. 

" There is a compulsory law ; but it is not enforced, 
because there are not sufficient schools to accommodate all 
the children." I quote the words used to me, for it seems 
incredible that the city of" magnificent distances," and more 
magnificent buildings ; the city wherein is built, at a cost 
sufficient to provide schools for twice the population, the 
monument in honour of the justly revered Washington, 
who, in his farewell address, gave the injunction to his 
fellow citizens, to " Promote as an object of primary im- 
portance institutions for the general diffiision of know- 
ledge " ; the city where probably the largest deposit of coin 
in the world is stowed like potatoes in the treasury vaults, 
and where money to any amount can be found for party 



Public Peoi'/sion for Education. 23 

purposes ; — that this city cannot afford sufficient to build 
school-houses ! The Superintendent of Education, in dis- 
cussing what is to be done for the numbers of children 
who do not attend school, has to say : " In the first place, 
ample provision should be made in comfortable, well-lighted, 
and ventilated buildings where they could receive full atten- 
tion through the full school day, instead of for two or three 
hours in the morning or afternoon." It is odd, I think, that 
in the only little spot of Federal ground : bearing, too, the 
honoured name of Columbia ; in the national city, grand 
in its proportions, with marble edifices, its palatial and 
sumptuous offices unsurpassed by those of any capital in 
the world, the just pride of over sixty millions of " the 
freest people under the sun," there are not sufficient school- 
houses to accommodate the children ; and that it permits 
the Bureau of Education to be the worst accommodated of 
any Government department. To disregard the fervent 
wishes and wise admonitions of noble men, while em- 
ploying the sculptor's art to perpetuate their memories ; 
to march in triumphant procession and listen to fervid 
orations in honour of their doings on the fourth of July, 
and for the remaining three hundred and sixty-four days 
pay no heed to their advice, is so unlike the usual practical 
wisdom of the American people, that such an exception as 
this is the more remarkable. 



CHAPTER II. 



PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION 

[confimted). 

England : — Former Neglect of Elementary Education. — Work of Voluntary 
Schools. — Effect of the Act of 1870. — The Education Department. — 
Favo.urable Comparison of England with United States in Provision for 
Elementary Education. — Voluntary and Board Schools, how managed 
and supported.- -Powers of Managers. — Comparison of Board and 
Voluntary Schools.— The Science and Art Department. 

Scotland : — Similarity between English and Scotch Departments. — 
Modification of Examinations. — Result Payments. 

F'rance : — How Controlled. — Council of Education. — Departments. — 
Academies. — Three Grades of Inspectors. — Primary Instruction. — 
Secondary Instruction. — Normal Colleges. — Special Schools. 

Germany: — Control by Government. — Classes of Schools.— Scope of each. 

Australia : — Similarity in all Colonies. — Methods of Administration. — 
Centralisation. — Summary of School Systems. — New South Wales. 
— Victoria. — South Australia.— Queensland. — New Zealand, 

England. 

Until quite recently, while there existed in England ex- 
ten.sive provision for the education of the few, the many 
were almost totally neglected. Culture on the one hand ; 
ignorance, and consequent degradation, on the other. The 
great richly-endowed foundation schools of the sixteenth 
century provided for the rich and influential an education 
leading to the world-renowned Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge — institutions whose origins are lost in the 
darkness of the Middle Ages, whose colleges are memorials 
of the religious fervour or munificence of men whose his- 
tories are now legendary ; but whose precincts were hedged 



Public Proi'ision for Education. 



25 



round by tradition, so that only the rich or influential could 
gain access to their unique culture and learning. 

Just as exclusive in their sphere were lesser institutions 
for those lower down in the social scale ; but the masses 
were to a large extent left in ignorance. The credit for 
changing this unsatisfactory state of things must be given to 
the religious denominations, particularly to the Church of 
England, which even now has more children in its schools 
than are to be found in those of any other organisation. 
In addition, the Wesleyans, the Roman Catholics, and the 
British and Foreign School Society : — all must be men- 
tioned as assisting to prepare the way for the wisest and 
greatest legislative measure of the past twenty-five years, 
Mr. Forster's Education Act of 1870. By it provision for 
the accommodation of all children was made obligatory on 
the people of the various cities and districts ; and attend- 
ance at school became compulsory on the part of every 
child. 

I shall not attempt to state the estimate which some 
educators and statesmen with Socialistic tendencies made 
to me, of the influence of this act of legislation. Probably 
in no other country, France not even excepted, has such a 
change been made in the education of the mass of the 
people during the last twenty years. At the present time 
the English people are better provided with elementary 
schools than their cousins in America ; and no group of 
American States can be taken, containing an equal popula- 
tion, where such a large majority of the whole school popu- 
lation of, say from six to thirteen, are attending school and 
receiving the rudiments of knowledge. Every child is 
provided with the means of instruction, and compelled to 
attend. 

The result of the work of the Education Department 
is causing a social revolution in England. If the cha- 
racter of the teaching is too mechanical, if the chief aim 



26 Teaching in Three Continents. 

of the teacher is to earn as much money as possible for his 
managers, it must be remembered that this cannot be done 
without at least giving the pupil the ability to read and 
write. Of course the schools are not nearly so good as the 
friends of true education wish. Much remains to be done, 
and undoubtedly it will not be long ere a still greater 
change will have taken place. Free education will shortly 
be an accomplished fact ; the partial absorption of the 
voluntary schools by the School Boards will necessarily 
follow, and further facilitate the abolition of what have been 
the cause of so much evil — result examinations, and " grant 
payments." " Write ' Grant factory ' on three-fourths of our 
schools " said an educator to me. 

Before being long in England, I formed the opinion 
that the chief function of the Education Department is 
financial rather than educational ; and I cannot do better 
than quote the sentiments of a gentleman whose intimate 
knowledge of the Department rendered his words of great 
weight with me. In the course of a conversation in which 
the difficulties caused by the rival influences of the various 
voluntary school societies were touched upon, he said : 
"The Department had never made full use of the pro- 
visions of the Education Act, simply from the lack of 
some one at its head in the earlier stages of its existence, 
who could have taken up the educational side with as 
powerful, determined, and comprehensive grasp ; and could 
have initiated the working of the Act with as much tact, 
skill, and diplomacy as the founder displayed in passing it 
through the intricate mazes of Parliamentary procedure, 
party feeling, and the natural objection of the English people 
to change. Mr. Forster performed his part, and executed 
the statesman's mission with success ; but there was no one 
to do the still more difficult work of practical educator on a 
scale hitherto untried." 

My informant did not however wish me, nor do I wish 



Public Provision for Education: 27 

others, to under-estimate the splendid work which the Edu- 
cation Department has done. It is the interpreter of the 
law ; it decides what must and what may be taught ; it 
formulates regulations for the working of elementary day 
and evening schools, as well as training colleges for the 
efficient training of teachers ; and it employs a large staff 
of Inspectors to see that the requirements of the law are 
being carried out, and that the schools are efficient. It 
distributes, too, the immense annual vote from the Public 
Treasury for the support of elementary schools, and 
generally exercises supervision over these schools, in con- 
sequence of being able to grant or withhold funds to the 
average extent, roughly speaking, of half the annual cost 
of maintenance. The other half of the cost, as well as 
the school buildings, fittings, and appliances, has to be 
provided by local means ; and the organisations — be they 
School Boards elected by taxpayers, or managers appointed 
by a particular section of the people — which provide the 
school-houses and the remaining half of the maintenance, 
have ample scope, outside certain well-defined limits, for 
materially varying the character of the schools. These 
limits are intended to constitute a minimum of central 
control and departmental interference, sufficient to ensure a 
proper use being made of the Imperial vote. 

The schools are known as (i) Voluntary Schools^ which 
have been built, and are partly supported by voluntary 
subscriptions. These are under denominational control. 
(2) Board Schools : viz., schools built and supported by 
money raised by local taxation, and controlled by elected 
School Boards. 

Out of 4,688,000 pupils in the elementary schools, 
2,154,000 are in the schools known as Voluntary, provided 
by, and under the control of the Church of England ; 
1,780,000 are in Board schools; 330,000 attend schools 
under the British School Society, or other undenominational 



28 Teaching in Three Continents. 

control; 248,000 are in Roma7i Catholic schools; and 
174,000 belong to Wesleyan schools. The schools here 
spoken of correspond more nearly than any other in 
England to the Public School of the United States and 
Australia; but are in many respects very different, chiefly 
from the fact that they are provided expressly for the poor, 
and in many cases are attended by no other class. I shall 
say more on this point elsewhere. 

The above figures are quoted, because it is only by 
a consideration of the influence of these opposing in- 
terests that the student of English elementary education 
can attempt to estimate the difficulties of the Education 
Department, and find any excuse for the system of ex- 
aminations which, it is pleasant to record, are being much 
modified, and which, it must in fairness be stated, were 
not so much due to the Department as to the peculiarly 
difficult problem which it has had to solve. It has to 
administer a vote of over three million pounds sterling of 
the public revenue in such a way, that the interests of 
the State shall be promoted to the best advantage among 
a number of opposing parties, each anxious to obtain as 
much as possible from the Government. This it has done 
by means of a complex system of grants, perfectly bewil- 
dering to the stranger, who for the first time hears how 
the schools are supported. The responsibility of recom- 
mending the amount of these grants rests on Her Majesty's 
Inspectors, who make a greater or less number of surprise 
visits to a school during the year, and annually, at a stated 
time, carefully examine each pupil in reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, and hold class examinations in such other — 
if any — subjects as might be taught. The new Code pro- 
vides for very important modifications of the system of 
individual examinations, following much the same course 
as the Scotch Education Department. 

The employment and payment of teachers, provided 



Public Provision for Education. 29 

that they have the qiuhfications fixed by the Education 
Department, the charging of fees within the law, teaching 
of subjects outside those required by the Department, and 
rehgious instruction, are left in the hands of local authorities. 
The schools in different parts of England, in consequence, 
vary greatly with regard to the accommodation provided, 
and the salaries paid to teachers ; and, consequently, the 
character of the education given varies greatly. Even in the 
same town this may be very noticeable, sometimes in 
favour of the voluntary schools ; but as far as I could judge, 
the Board Schools are generally superior. The denomina- 
tional schools have to raise funds by voluntary contributions 
from friends ; who, being ratepayers, have to contribute to 
the support of the Board Schools. This is often a sore 
point of contention. The School Boards, with the tax- 
levying power at their backs, are able to build handsome 
school-houses according to modern and approved patterns, 
replete with every convenience ; and, by offering good 
salaries, attract the best teachers in the country. The 
teachers in the neighbouring voluntary schools feel it hard 
to have to compete with those who are thus more favourably 
circumstanced. 

The churches acted nobly and liberally, in providing 
schools when the English Government was neglecting its 
duty in this respect. They would do more nobly now, 
were they to hand over all their schools to the School 
Board, or rather to the public, to be provided for from one 
common fund, thus relieving the country of the greatest 
difficulty in connection with elementary public education. 
I could not help sometimes concluding, when visiting the 
poorer voluntary schools, that it is possible to pay too 
dearly for the privilege of teaching a Church catechism, 
a Roman dogma, or a Methodist creed. To struggle, for 
no other purpose than to keep open schools which are 
veritable barns compared with the adjoining well-built, 



30 Teaching in Three Continents. 

well-ventilated, well-fitted school-houses ; with appliances 
that are poor and woefully out of repair: where the ven- 
tilation, lighting, and seating are opposed to all laws of 
health, modern science, or common sense : where the 
teachers are badly paid, and over- worked, is hardly worthy 
of the high standard and practical nature of the nineteenth 
century churches. Happily, such schools are the exception. 
As a rule, excellent work is done in voluntary schools. 

So much has been said and written about cramming for 
result examinations in order to earn grants, that the 
belief is prevalent outside of England that the teachers 
receive the money thus earned. This is only indirectly 
true. The Education Department has nothing to do with 
tlie payment of the teachers. All sums earned by the 
schools are paid to the managers, be they School Boards 
or Voluntary Committees, who distribute them in connection 
with funds derived from other sources, as they have 
occasion. I believe that all the larger School Boards, and 
also the managers of the more important voluntary schools, 
pay their teachers fixed salaries. 

It must be clearly understood, with reference to any 
comments I may make regarding the mechanical teaching 
and lack of intelligence observed in English schools, that I 
attribute the chief blame to neither teachers nor pupils ; 
but to the administrators who, professing to undertake the 
work of Education, not only allow, but enforce, a condition 
of things which, however great an improvement it may be 
on the disgraceful state of twenty years since, is unworthy 
alike of the people of England, and of nineteenth century 
civilisation. The School Boards find it necessary to obtain 
every possible pound from the Department, to save local 
taxation. The managers of voluntary schools must do the 
same, to avoid the obnoxious task of collecting subscrip- 
tions. Neither members of School Boards, nor voluntary 
managers, are usually practical educators ; and naturally 



Public Provision for Education. 31 

consider a high percentage, and a good report from the 
inspector, a guarantee of good work on the part of their 
teachers. The good grant which follows is a more tangible 
expression of satisfaction. Many good teachers, who only 
use the soundest and most educative methods of teaching, 
always earn the highest grants, and receive the best re- 
ports ; but it is easily possible to obtain the same tangible 
result in a less satisfactory manner ; and while the shortest 
road is often neither the easiest nor most commendable, it 
is the one which usually commends itself to the majority. 

It is, therefore, a source of much gratification to the 
friends of true education, that the Education Department 
is making a new and commendable endeavour to ensure 
education as well as instruction, by giving an increased 
grant on average attendance, and attaching more import- 
ance to the manner of teaching, than on the ability of the 
children to reproduce facts at the annual examination. 

The Science and Art Department. — There is no doubt 
that the foreigner's estimate of English education suffers on 
account of the complicated system. For example, the work 
of the elementary schools in connection with the Science 
and Art Department does not appear in the reports of the 
Education Department ; and yet it forms a distinctive and 
very valuable feature in conhection with many of the 
schools. Drawing has hitherto been under the control of 
the Science and Art Department, and although over eight 
hundred thousand elementary school pupils have been 
receiving systematic instruction, no reference to this im- 
portant work appears in the Education report. In con- 
sequence of this, I have met foreign educators who were 
under the impression that no attention was paid to it. In 
future, it is to be a compulsory subject in the schools. The 
large classes of ex-seventh pupils in connection with some 
of the School Boards are not recognised by the Education 
Department. By teaching two or three science subjects, 



32 Teaching in Three Continents. 

the managers are able to earn sufficient grants from the 
Science and Art Department to pay all expenses, and thus 
continue the education of these pupils at the ordinary small 
fee. 

The Science and Art Department gives aid to schools 
of art, and art classes, science schools, elementary schools, 
and training colleges, and affords instruction in its various 
ramifications of junior and advanced classes to an aggregate 
of nearly one million pupils. Its influence in other ways is 
also widespread. By the Normal School of Science, the Royal 
School of Mines, the magnificent museums at South 
Kensington and Jermyn Street, the National Art Training 
School, the system of loans to schools and museums, and 
in many other ways, does it exert a far-reaching and powerful 
influence on the education of the people. 

Scotland. 

Scotch Elementary Education is under the control of a 
Department similar in its organisation and working to that 
presiding over the English schools. Scotland is decidedly 
ahead of England in her school legislation. Her schools 
are now free in all the lower standards, and in some places 
altogether. Under the new Code of 1890, again, the system 
of result examinations has been so modified, that many 
of the evils under which English schools labour will be 
absent in the future from Scotland. The Department has 
felt its way very carefully in this matter. For three years 
no individual examination has been required in the lower 
standards, and the effect has been so satisfactory that " My 
Lords have decided that the time has now come when 
efficiency need not, in every case, be tested by individual 
examination ; and when the experiment of giving greater 
freedom of organisation to the managers of schools may 
fairly be tried. 



Public Provision for Education. T^-t) 

" Where my Lords are satisfied that the aim of the 
school is good, and that its methods are well adapted, and 
successfully pursued, towards realising that aim : where^ 
further, your inspection convinces you that the intelligence 
of the children is kept in full activity, and that the training 
given them places them in possession of the essential 
branches of elementary education, and trains their facul- 
ties in such a way as to prepare them practically for the 
duties of life, my Lords will not require you to carry the 
individual test further than may be necessary to a safeguard 
against inefficiency." 

The Department has also considerably curtailed the list 
of specific subjects, and given managers the option of sub- 
mitting a syllabus of any subject which they deem specially 
suited to the requirements of their schools ; and they have 
been given a wide option with regard to elementary science, 
and manual instruction. 

France. 

The French system of public education is controlled by 
the Minister of Instruction and Fine Arts, who is assisted by 
a Council — of which he is president — composed of mem- 
bers of the Council of State, of the Institute, Army, Navy, 
Catholic Church, and nine lay members. This council 
prescribes the course of instruction in all public schools 
established, new Lycees, and Communal Colleges, and 
generally governs the education of the land. The country 
is divided into eighty-seven departments. The departments 
are divided into seventeen districts, or " Academies," in 
each of which there is an Academic Council, under the 
direction of the Minister of Public Instruction, which has 
charge of the affairs in the Academy. Each department 
also has a *' Departmental Council," composed of the Prefect, 
as president, the Academy inspector of the district as vice- 

D 



34 Teaching in Three Continents. 

president, four councillors elected by their colleagues, the 
director and directress of the Training Colleges, two masters 
and two mistresses chosen by the teachers in the Depart- 
ment, two primary inspectors nominated by the Minister, 
and two representatives, one clerical and one lay, of the 
private schools. These councils supervise the internal 
working of the schools of their departments, and forward 
reports to the Minister of Instruction. Every commune 
also has its local board, with the mayor at its head, which 
supervises both the public and private schools. 

The inspection of the schools is attended to by three 
classes of inspectors : — 

1. Inspectors-General, of whom there are several, to act 
as advisers to the Minister. 

2. Academy inspectors, who, besides acting as vice- 
presidents of the councils, and inspecting the schools of 
their district, supervise the private schools, arrange for the 
examination of teachers and training colleges, and receive 
the reports of the visits of primary inspectors. 

3. Primary inspectors, who "report to the Academy in- 
spector within fifteen days of a visit to a school : — 

{a) Upon each teacher. 
{b) Upon the work being done in each class. 
They also preside over teachers' conferences, and during 
July examine all children being taught at home. They 
must have had a training equivalent to that of an English 
University man, and have been engaged in teaching for at 
least five years prior to appointment. 

Public instruction is divided into three grades : primary, 
secondary, and higher. 

Primary instruction is free and compulsory between the 
ages of seven and fourteen years. Every commune must 
support at least one primary school; but in the case of 
thinly populated communes the consent of the Minister 
may be given to allow several to combine for the purpose. 



Public Provision for Education. 



35 



Aid from the national funds is only given to communes 
which are unable to support the whole cost of their 
schools. 

Secondary education is given in the Lyceum or Com- 
munal College. 

Higher education is given by the " faculties " of law, 
medicine, theology, science, and literature. 

Two normal schools are established in each Depart- 
ment, one for male and one for female students ; and there 
is a superior normal school to prepare teachers for lycees, 
communal colleges, and all schools above the primary. 
These schools are in charge of the State. I do not know of 
another country where this wise provision for the training of 
secondary teachers exists. Germany, with all her thorough- 
ness in primary education, has omitted this ; and England 
knows nothing of the kind. 

One of the special features of French education is the 
great number of special schools. I can only name a few ; 
but there is hardly an industry which has not its special 
school. There are schools of telegraphy for Government 
employes exclusively, schools of manual apprenticeship, 
schools of road and bridges, schools of forestry, schools of 
master workmen in mines, schools of political science, and 
so forth. Those having a bearing on elementary education 
will be dealt with elsewhere. 

Germany. 

While England and the United States each claim to be 
the most perfectly self-governing country in the world, and 
dispute over the amount of liberty or licence enjoyable 
under their particular forms of rule of the people by the 
people, Germany undisputedly presents the best example of 
a governed people. The German educational system has 
received great attention for a longer period than any other ; 

D 2 



36 Teaching in Three Continents. 

and it embodies many excellent features. In the absence 
of result examinations ; in the systematic thoroughness of 
the work ; in the sound psychological basis of their course 
of study ; and in the training and professional standing of 
their teachers, the Germans are in the advance guard of 
educational progress. 

The education is entirely in the hands of the Govern- 
ment, being under the supervision of a Minister of Public 
Instruction, assisted by School Boards in their various pro- 
vinces. The names of the German schools are confusing ; 
but under different titles they may be said to be of three 
classes. 

In the Primary school the attendance is compulsory 
from the age of seven to fourteen years. Secondary 
education is carried on in a Gymnasium, or a " Realschule." 
The former gives prominence to Latin and Greek, and 
especially aims at preparation for the University and pro- 
fessional life. The latter pays great attention to modern 
languages, mathematics, and natural sciences, aiming at 
special fitness for the ordinary business callings. The 
courses of study differ in both classes of schools in 
different parts of Germany. Forming a kind of sub-division, 
intermediate between the primary, or people's schools, and 
the gymnasia, are the Biirger Schools for boys, and Higher 
Young Ladies' Schools. These two classes of schools 
appear to give a primary education of a somewhat better 
character than the people's school, and carry on the work 
of instruction for several years longer. 

German Universities are so well known, that I only 
refer to them as receiving large subsidies from the State. 

Australia. 

There is a general agreement in the methods of adminis- 
tration of Elementary Public Education in the chief 



Public Provision for Education. 37 

Australian Colonies. In New South Wales, Victoria, 
South Australia, and Queensland, centralization is highly 
developed ; and, under the present conditions of the 
country, to attain the maximum of economy and usefulness, 
must remain so. The scattered nature of the population in 
the major part of each colony renders local government of 
a school system — requiring, as it does, the greatest intelli- 
gence, experience, and freedom from party considerations — 
not only wasteful and unsuitable, but injurious to the best 
interests of the object in view. The superior character of 
the educational facilities in the thinly-populated districts of 
Australia is one of the most noticeable and commendable 
features in connection with the colonial school systems. 
Probably no other thinly-populated country is so well 
provided with good schools. 

The following general statement of administration is in 
the main equally applicable to each colony : — The system 
of Public Instruction is managed by the Education De- 
partment of the Civil Service, at the head of which is an 
Inspector-General, on whom depends the working of the 
Department ; and, through his assistants, the carrying out of 
the legislation on education. This officer acts under, and 
is responsible to, the Minister of Education, who has full 
control over the whole system, and is alone responsible to 
Parliament (of which he is a member), and the country. 
He is a member of the Cabinet, and the personnel of the 
Minister therefore changes with each change of Ministry. 
In the Minister is vested all school property ; and the 
appointment and dismissal of teachers is nominally in his 
power. 

The grouping of the population of New Zealand round 
a number of well-defined centres, often somewhat difficult 
of access the one from another, has naturally led to the 
adoption of the opposite system of management by local 
Boards of Education. Excepting in Tasmania and Western 



38 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Australia, whose united population does not exceed two 
hundred thousand, all the colonies agree in enacting that 
elementary education up to a certain standard shall be com- 
pulsory, and in carefully carrying out the law. They are 
also agreed that religious teaching shall form no part of the 
official programme ; and, moreover, shall not be given during 
school hours. 

There are, excepting in South Australia, but slight 
differences in the courses of study and methods of teach- 
ing, English example being followed. South Australia, 
on the other hand, has during the last few years made 
a departure ; and, like the most advanced American centres, 
has formulated a course of study on the German plan — 
retaining, however, in common with the other colonies, 
the English plan of result examinations as the chief means 
of testing the work. 

School-buildings do not differ materially, being con- 
structed with special reference to the method of organisation 
followed. Although they are well built, commodious, and 
often handsome structures, in which great attention has 
been paid to light and ventilation, they are not of the 
modern type of the more recent Board Schools of London 
and other large English centres, and are far from being as 
convenient as American school-houses. 

The pupil-teacher system is in operation in all the 
colonies ; and is, no doubt, one of the causes operating 
to prevent the adoption of the single class-room plan m 
constructing the buildings. The system found so necessary 
and successful by the London School Board of allowing 
the young apprentices to teach only a short time each 
week, and of taking the responsibility of their literary 
studies out of the hands of the teachers, and carrying 
on the teaching in pupil-teacher schools, has not been 
adopted. The first step in the movement has however 
been taken in many centres, where the pupil-teachers are 



Public Provision for Education. 39 

gathered on Saturday mornings for special collective 
teaching. 

On the Australian Continent, Victoria and Queensland 
have free elementary schools, while New South Wales and 
South Australia charge all who are able to pay nominal 
fees of a few pence per week. Curiously, not only are 
there two colonies in favour of each plan, but the popula- 
tion of the two pairs is very nearly the same. New 
Zealand, however, has adopted the principle of entirely 
free elementary education, and there is a decided tendency 
towards the principle in South Australia, so that I am safe 
in saying that Australia as a whole is in favour of free, 
compulsory, and secular public elementary education. 

While New South Wales does not admit the principle 
of entirely free instruction to all alike, she has established a 
system of pubHc high or secondary schools, open to all 
who have passed through the elementary schools, at the 
same nominal fees. She thus connects her primary system 
with the university. 

Each colony has much to learn from the others, as well 
as from the older systems of England and America ; while 
the latter might with equal advantage take lessons from 
their younger cousins of the Sunny South. For example, 
New South Wales and South Australia would do well to 
adopt the free system of Victoria and Queensland ; Vic- 
toria and South Australia would make their systems more 
complete, and more worthy of their democratic pretensions, 
were they to follow the mother colony, New South Wales, 
in establishing secondary schools with nominal fees ; or, 
more desirable still, free to all who have completed the 
course in the elementary schools. The other colonies 
might with decided advantage adopt the splendid course 
of study followed in the South Australian schools, than 
which I know of none better in the English language. 
Again, all would do well to relegate examinations to their 



40 Teaching in Three Continents. 

proper sphere of useful assistants, instead of tyrannical 
masters. After England, Australia is the stronghold of 
examinations. Australians are not equally slaves to the 
system that the EngHsh elementary schools are ; but the 
percentage of results, the number of passes, still remains 
the chief standard of public judgment on a teacher's work. 

Again, England is doing her best to get rid of the evils 
of the pupil-teacher system ; but there is, so far as I am 
able to judge, no general conviction in Australia that it is a 
weakness. Invented by Messrs. Bell and Lancaster as an 
emergency means of providing a substitute for proper 
assistance, which at that time it was impossible to obtain, 
it has become so much a matter of course to have young, 
inexperienced pupil-teachers bungling in their attempts 
to teach what they themselves, in the nature of things, 
do not — cannot — understand, that it is now asserted that 
the pupil-teacher system is the only effective mode of 
training teachers, and the only practicable plan of working 
schools at reasonable expense. 

Apart from the exceptions mentioned elsewhere, the 
Governments of South Australia, Victoria, and New Zea- 
land do not provide for secondary education. 

The Australian Universities are not State institutions in 
the same sense as those of the newer Western States of 
America ; but the various Governments have provided 
largely towards founding and supporting them, a con- 
siderable portion of the revenues being drawn from the 
Public Treasury. The degrees entitle the holders to the 
same rank, title, and precedence as those of the Universities 
of the United Kingdom. 

New South Wales. 

The public system of education of New South Wales 
includes five classes of schools. 



Public Provision for Education. 41 

1. Public Elementary Schools, intended to provide the 
best primary instruction to all children, without sectarian 
or class distinction. These in the main correspond, so far 
as the scope of the work is concerned, to the Board Schools 
of England, and the Primary and Grammar Grades of 
America. 

2. Superior Public Schools^ established in towns and 
populous districts, where larger numbers give scope for 
more perfect classification, and division of labour. In 
addition to the work of the first class, these give lessons 
in the higher branches of education : i.e.^ Latin, Mathe- 
matics, Elementary Science, and so forth. 

3. Evening Schools^ in which the object is to instruct those 
who have not had the advantage of Primary Education. 

4. High Schools for Boys. 

5. High Schools for Girls. 

The course of study in the High Schools is such as wull 
complete an ordinary education, or prepare students for the 
University. 

The fees are not to exceed threepence per week per 
child, or a total of one shiUing for one family ; and the 
children of parents unable to pay this are admitted, without 
distinction, free. This small fee is charged less for revenue, 
than in the hope that it will lead to a better appreciation of 
the school privileges. There is a strong feeling, on the other 
hand, that the people would take even greater pride in 
their schools if they offered the boon of education freely to 
all, without distinction of any kind, and that for the paltry 
sum gained it is a pity to put aside this great principle. 
The advocates for and against are thus seen to be actuated 
by very similar motives ; and it only remains a matter of 
time for the colony to adopt Free Education, as Victoria 
has done. 

Attendance is compulsory for seventy days each half- 
year, for all children between the ages of six and fourteen. 



42 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The schools are supervised by a staff of inspectors, 
who make visits of inspection at uncertain times, and hold 
annual examinations on the year's work; the tabulated 
results form the chief basis of judgment on the teachers' 
work. 

The University of Sydney is supported from three 
sources of income : — 

(i) An annual vote from the Public Treasury; (2) 
Revenue from Endowments; (3) Fees from Students. 

It has cost in buildings and endowments some ^300,000, 
part of which was provided by private munificence, and part 
by the Government. In addition to the above, there is a 
bequest of over .;^2oo,ooo, left by Mr. J. H. Challis, which 
is just available for University purposes. 



Victoria. 

In Victoria the term State School is used in the same 
sense as Public School is in New South Wales and South 
Australia. Attendance is free and compulsory between the 
ages of six and fourteen for at least sixty days each half- 
year — subject, of course, to the usual exemption on account 
of attendance at a private school, ill-health, etc. The work 
of supervision is similar to that in New South Wales. It 
should be noticed, however, that although the schools are 
free, fees may be charged by teachers for giving instruction 
in subjects other than those fixed by law as compulsory 
subjects. The Government makes no provision for secon- 
dary education ; but it is well provided for by private 
corporations, many of which are controlled by the religious 
bodies. As in New South Wales, the University has three 
sources of revenue: — (i) An annual vote from the Pubhc 
Treasury; (2) Income from Endowments; (3) College Fees. 
Private munificence has also been largely devoted to the 



Public Provision for Education. 43 

erection of magnificent buildings. "Wilson Hall," for 
example, cost some ^40,000, and Ormond College about 

South Austi'alia. 

The public system of education in this colony is under 
similar management to that existing in New South Wales 
and Victoria. The Education Department is under the 
direction of the Minister of Education, who is responsible 
to Parliament and the country for its efficient working. The 
work is, however, carried on by the permanent head, who 
is a practical educator, as well as a scholar of high standing, 
with the title of Inspector-General of Schools. With him 
virtually rests the appointment and removal of teachers, 
although the power is nominally vested in the Minister of 
Education, whose confirmation is needed in all cases. 

The compulsory law provides for the attendance at 
school of all children between the ages of seven and 
thirteen, unless the compulsory standard is passed earlier, 
for at least thirty-five days each quarter. As in other 
portions of Australia, appeals to the law are seldom needed, 
although the Act is strictly enforced. 

There are two classes of elementary schools. 

I. Provisio7ial Schools. — Frequently held in rented 
buildings by untrained teachers. They are intended to 
supply elementary education in the outlying districts, where 
the population is too small to warrant the expense of 
building a school, and paying a trained teacher. The 
course of study is the same in character, although not so 
wide as that given in the public schools ; and as great care 
is exercised by the Department in only employing persons 
of sufficient educational attainments, and the numbers of 
pupils are but small, the character of the work is highly 
satisfactory, as evidenced by the reports of the inspectors. 



44 Teaching in Three Continents. 

These schools to some extent correspond to the back 
country rural schools of America, in size, character of 
pupils, lack of training on the part of teachers, and 
such points ; but they differ in that they are open for 
the same time each year as the city schools — viz., forty- 
six weeks — are subject to the same supervision, have 
to present their pupils for similar examinations, and the 
teachers are not subject to the worrying influences of a 
local committee, who may dispense with their services, or 
refuse to pay their salaries in case of dispute. The teachers 
are encouraged to improve themselves, and if they do good 
work are sure of permanent employment. 

2. Public Schools. — Schools under certificated teachers 
are called Public Schools. The fees payable are fourpence 
or sixpence a week ; but anyone unable to pay this is 
admitted free, and supplied with the necessary books. 
Books, excepting copy- and drawing-books, for use in school, 
are supplied to all pupils. The Department is preparing 
and publishing a series of special school books. When 
these are sold, a trifle over cost price is charged. 

The secondary education of boys is left entirely to 
private enterprise ; but the Department annually provides a 
number of scholarships, of the value of twenty pounds, to 
the best pupils in the public schools. The law provides for 
the establishment of "Advanced Schools"; but hitherto the 
work has been so well carried out by the existing schools 
that the necessity for these " advanced schools " has not 
arisen. 

The Education Department has acknowledged its 
obligation with regard to the secondary education of 
girls by establishing, in the face of much opposition, a 
central Advanced School. Originally intended to form a 
link between the Public Schools and the University, it 
has been an institution affording, for those who are able to 
pay for it, an education of a character not obtainable 



Public Provision for Education. 45 

elsewhere. Like the Leeds Higher Grade School, and 
unlike the High Schools of New South Wales (leaving 
out the question of fees), the standard of admission has 
been made lower than was intended ; and being able 
to pass the upper standard of the Elementary School 
is no longer insisted on. Since it is only available for 
a section of the community, it cannot be considered an 
integral part of the Public School system. The fees 
are twelve guineas a year, so that — apart from a few of 
those who have received scholarships for exceptional merit 
at the Public Schools — the poorer people are excluded from 
availing themselves of it. Notwithstanding the splendid 
work it has done in raising the standard of female educa- 
tion in Adelaide, and the fact that the fees are sufficient to 
carry on the work without cost to the country, the opposi- 
tion it has met with has prevented the extension of the 
experiment. 

It must be admitted that such schools are opposed 
to the principles of Democratic Australia. They are 
bitterly denounced by the friends of the private establish- 
ments with which they compete, and do not enlist the 
sympathies of the mass of the people. It is the duty of the 
State to provide secondary as well as primary education ; 
but it must be done on the same terms, and in the same 
way, as in South Australia and in a few of the English 
School Boards. It should not be left to the haphazard 
of private enterprise ; but as the only firm basis of the 
argument for their establishment is the welfare of the 
State, the whole community as nearly as possible should 
be able to avail themselves of the provisions. This is 
one of the great features of the American system of 
education. The State must for its own safety establish 
elementary schools, that the mass of her citizens may be 
enlightened, and have the means of constant improvement 
in their hands. This is now everywhere recognised. 



46 Teaching in Three Continents. 

What we call secondary education cannot be given to aW, 
and it is hardly possible to conceive of a state of society 
where, for many reasons, it could ; but it is not the less 
necessary and important that the State should endeavour 
to obtain the greatest possible benefit from its best minds, 
whether they belong to the poor or to the rich. This it 
can only do by providing the means for their education. 
All else must depend on the individuals themselves. 
America recognises this, so does New South Wales ; South 
Australia and Victoria do also ; but in an unsatisfactory 
manner, by giving scholarships to a few. When explaining 
our systems to friends in America, I frequently heard the 
remark : " Australians appear to do more for the few but 
less for the many than we do " ; and I could not but grant 
that the indictment was true. 

The University of Adelaide is similar in character to 
those of Melbourne and Sydney. 

Queensland. 

Like the colonies already described, Queensland pos- 
sesses a good system of compulsory, free, and secular 
education, of which she is justly proud, and to which she 
pays great attention. She differs from the other colonies 
in requiring the people of a district to provide a portion, to 
the extent of one-fifth^ of the cost of the school-buildings. 
Secondary or " Grammar " schools, are assisted by grants 
from the public funds to the extent of two-thirds of the 
cost of construction and maintenance. 



New Zeaiafid. 

The colony is divided into thirteen educational districts, 
which are again divided into school districts, each under 



Public Provision for Education. 47 

an Education Board. The teaching is secular and free. 
The funds are provided by statutory grant of ;^3 15s. od. 
per annum for every child in average attendance, there 
being additional votes for scholarships, training of teachers, 
&c. In other particulars the schools resemble those ot 
Australia, and do not differ greatly from the Board Schools 
of England. 



CHAPTER III. 



HOW WORK IS TESTED. 

The Need for a Test.— A Difficult Problem.— Plans followed in Germany 
and France.— Methods adopted in the United States.— Discussion of 
Result Examinations in England and Australia. 

The problem how to test the work of the teacher is one 
of the most difficult in connection with a public system of 
education. Where a large number of men and women are 
employed, there must be some means adopted for securing 
the proper performance of the work for which they are paid. 
The difficulty is how to secure this end, without interfering 
with the work and individuality of those teachers who do 
not require supervision. 

The English Education Department has depended 
almost entirely on yearly examinations as a means for 
deciding the amount of assistance to be given to the school 
by the central authorities. The result has been an ex- 
emplification of the text — "Unto him that hath shall be 
given." The schools in poor districts most in need of help, 
where the enlightening and elevating influences of education 
are most needed, have had to carry on work at less cost than 
more favoured districts. State aid should be given equally 
to all ; but if it is to be unevenly distributed, let the poorest 
have the most. 

In Germany the authorities estimate the teacher's work 
chiefly by ascertaining how he teaches. Examinations are 
used, and used frequently ; but it is to test present work, 
not the ability of the pupil to retain isolated facts for long 



How Work is Tested. 49 

periods of lime. The pupils may be examined at any time 
in any portion of their work ; but I could learn of no 
general examination of all pupils in all subjects with a 
tabulated statement of the result. 

A good deal of examining and inspecting is done in 
Paris, and, I fear, not a little cramming is the result. 

In the United States each town has its own method of 
testing the work of the teachers. It chiefly rests with the 
superintendent and his assistants. Result examinations as 
understood in England, where the greatest drawback is the 
fact that the amount of money allotted to a school depends 
on the examination, are, as far as I am aware, unknown. 
When examinations are held at a definite period annually, 
they are for the purpose of promotions, not for publication 
of percentages and payment of grant. 

The following are a few notes I collected on how pupils 
are promoted : — 

Indianapo/is, Indiana. — "The pupils are promoted 
twice each year. They are examined by printed questions, 
prepared by the superintendent of schools. All who 
pass a creditable examination on these questions are pro- 
moted without further question. All pupils who fall low in 
the list, but whose daily work has been satisfactory to the 
teacher in charge, and to the supervisor in immediate 
charge of said teacher and pupils, are passed on the recom- 
mendation of these two persons— the greatest stress being 
placed on the teacher's estimate as being the more definite 
and intimate." 

Chicago^ Illinois.— ^^ In primary and grammar grades, 
promotions are made by the principal, with or without 
special examination, at his discretion. From grammar to 
high school pupils pass on the recommendation of the 
grammar principal. The superintendent holds a supple- 
mentary examination for those not recommended." 

Brooklyn., long Island. — " Semi-annual examinations, 

E 



50 Teach rxG ly Three Coxtixents. 

promotions, and gradations are the rule. The superinten- 
dent may at his option prepare the questions for the 
examination of all the grammar grades, but he fnusf 
prepare those for the graduation examinations. Promotion 
is based solely on the record of scholarship for the term 
and at examination combined." 

Boston, Massachusetts. — " Promotions are made half- 
yearly. Principals are responsible for promotion from 
one grade to another in their own schools, but the (.questions 
for the promotion from the primary to the grammar, and 
from the grammar to the high schools are prepared by the 
supervising otftcers. The instructor's record of the pupils' 
work is a factor in promotion. Changes of grade not 
involving promotion to a higher department may be made 
on any IMonday throughout the year." 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. — " At the time of my visit a 
long discussion was brought to a close by deciding that the 
superintendent may dispense with examinations for promo- 
tion, and depend on the estimate of the class teacher as to 
the progress and fitness of the pupil, only examining in the 
case of dispute." 

Washington, District of Columbia. — With reference to 
examinations, the Principal of the Normal School at 
Washington writes me: — "'Ranking by per cent.' is well 
nigh forgotten here, though not so very long ago it was 
important. We are glad to forget. Frequent tests — oral 
and written — are given by the supervising teachers, but 
the formal examinations, deciding promotions, are not held. 
Teachers promote pupils by the exercise of their judgment, 
after having ' summered and wintered ' them. All the year 
the pupils are being ' measured,' not more by the number 
of facts they can get and keep than by the power of their 
mental grasp in new lines. Teachers feel the added 
responsibility and dignity, and unprepared pupils are not 
sent on. If the teacher of the next grade thinks such 



How Work is Tested. 



51 



has been done, the supervising teacher has the power to 
decide. We like the system.''' 

San Francisco., California. — " Yearly written examin- 
ations have been dispensed with, and all promotions are 
made by the principals and class teachers, subject to appeal 
to the superintendent on the part of parents dissatisfied 
with the non-promotion of their children." 

In Toronto, Canada, the superintendent adopts the 
plan of having a certain number of questions on each 
subject drawn up by several well-known teachers. These 
are sent round sealed to all the schools on a given day, 
and in the presence of the pupils opened and distributed. 
All pupils in a given grade have the same questions. All 
the papers on a given subject are corrected by one principal. 
No results are published. 

Cincinfiati, Ohio. — The superintendent says : " An im- 
pression prevails that waitten examinations have been 
wholly dispensed with in Cincinnati schools. This is an 
error. The written test is no longer made the basis for 
the projnotion of pupils, and it no longer occurs at stated 
times, but it is continued as an element of teaching, 
where its uses are many and important. It is so distri- 
buted throughout the year, and comes without previous 
notice." 

Mr. Aaron Gove, Superintendent of Denver, Colorado, 
the most English of American superintendents I met, is 
not at all satisfied with many points of the American plan 
of managing education. He would like more centralisation 
and less of the elective principle ; but considers the change 
made by abolishing result examinations years since, as 
being entirely beneficial. 

Annual examinations form the principal test of work 

in the Australian schools, and are the chief, often almost 

the sole basis of promotions. The results are tabulated and 

the percentage of passes in each subject is published. This 

E 2 



,1)2 Teaching ijs/ Three Continents. 

percentage is supposed to be a correct measurement of the 
efficiency of a school, is published in the records, and on it 
depends directly or indirectly the teacher's position. In 
Victoria, a large proportion of the teacher's salary directly 
depends on the percentage of possible passes obtained. 
That is to say, the teacher is paid according to the results 
he obtains. He is a servant of the Education Department, 
and directly suffers if his percentage falls. I mention this 
particularly as a contrast to the English system, where the 
grant of the Education Department depends on the result of 
the examination, but where the payment is made to the 
managers or School Board as the case may be, the Education 
Department taking no cognisance of the teacher in the 
matter, he being a servant of the managers and out of the 
Department, although having to be approved by its officers. 

In South Australia the teachers are paid a bonus for 
successful teaching, as judged by the percentage gained, 
varying from sixteen to twenty-four pounds per annum. 
This bonus is the same for all teachers irrespective of their 
status or regular salary, and may form from six to twenty- 
five per cent, of the teacher's income. Should a school ob- 
tain less than sixty per cent, of passes, the bonus is deducted 
altogether, and may then be considered a fine of sixteen 
pounds for unsuccessful teaching. In the case of teachers of 
small schools, or junior assistants, the fine may amount to 
one-seventh or more of the total salary ; and it may happen 
in the case of an assistant whose particular class has done 
well, that he may suffer this loss through the failure of the 
rest of the school to secure the required percentage. So 
dominating has the examination become, that the average 
teacher is ever either worrying about the coming ordeal, or 
suffering a reaction because it is over. 

In New South Wales the examination may take place 
at any time, and extends over the work of the six months 
previous. It is more oral than that of Victoria, and less 



How Work is Tested. 53 

individual than that of either Victoria or South Australia. 
In New South Wales no result payments or bonuses of 
any kind are made. Each teacher is paid a fixed salary 
from the public treasury according to the size of his 
school and his classification. His promotion depends on 
his success as a teacher and his attainments. His suc- 
cess as a teacher is judged by the percentage of passes and 
his special mark for skill. The latter is dependent on the 
impression he is able to make on the inspector and the per- 
centage of passes obtained. 

The Victorian examination bears the greatest resemblance 
to the system followed in England. 

In New South Wales a different plan is followed, charac- 
terised in the first place by a much greater fulness. In the 
second place — and here it also differs from the course 
followed in South Australia — no record is kept, and in 
most cases none is attempted, of the individual pass or 
failure of each pupil. The inspector conducts his examina- 
tion and awards a percentage of marks according to a scale 
for excellent, good, and so forth. The teacher takes a con- 
siderable part in the examination. The inspector examines 
a selected number haphazard, and the teacher a selected 
few, presumably of the best, the work being done orally and 
in class. A peculiarity of the examination is the marks 
given for "attention," "mental effort," and "mental cul- 
ture." This is a responsible part of the inspector's work, 
being an attempt to estimate not only the result of the 
teacher's work so far as the acquisition of facts is concerned, 
but the success of the methods of instruction pursued as 
educative processes. 

In South Australia the inspectors have to visit the 
schools twice each year, once for a preliminary or " surprise 
visit " — the surprise, not infrequently, being on the part of 
the inspector at finding everything evidently prepared in 
expectation. As a rule teachers know, to vsithin a few days, 



54 Teaching in Three Continents. 

when to expect him, and acquaint one another when he is 
in the neighbourhood. At this preHminary visit he is to 
observe the school in its orchnary condition, note the 
methods of instruction followed, criticise and offer sug- 
gestions on the general work of the school, and report on 
the order, moral tone, discipline, and so forth. About one- 
fourth of his time is spent in making these visits ; the re- 
maining three-fourths being devoted to examinations. These 
take place at stated times in each school, and are the most 
important events in the year to pupils and teachers. On 
them depend the promotion of the pupils, the status, and, 
to a large extent, the prospect of promotion of the teachers. 
The system employed is the most elaborate of any with 
which I am acquainted, and there is probably even more 
value and importance attached to the examination than 
where the money consideration involved is much greater. 

Each pupil is individually examined in reading, spelling, 
writing, arithmetic, language, drawing, and, for girls, needle- 
work in addition ; and the marks obtained by each pupil 
are recorded and kept. From one-quarter to one-third of 
the total marks obtainable are given for arithmetic. In addi- 
tion class examinations are conducted in geography, history, 
poetry, special and moral lessons, singing, and drill. Marks 
are also awarded for discipline and order. In reading one 
mark is given for a bare pass, and another for expression 
and an intelligent knowledge of the subject-matter. One 
mark is given for spelling as tested by dictation, and a 
second for a properly kept book, in which throughout the 
school year the spelling has been taught by transcription 
and dictation. In writing one mark is allotted for a finished 
copy-book, and one for a piece of transcription done dur- 
ing the examination. In drawing a mark is given for a 
finished book, and one for an exercise performed during 
the examination. From four to six marks are given for 
arithmetic — that is, from twice to three times as many as 



How Work is Tested. 



55 



for reading, writing, spelling, language, or drawing. The 
examination in this subject includes a mental and a written 
test, and the marks are divided between the two kinds of 
w^ork. 

I will make an exception, and add a set of questions in 
arithmetic for the fourth class, or compulsory standard, 
which it is necessary for pupils to pass before being exempt 
from attendance at school. 

Out of the five problems to be worked on paper or slate, 
at least three must be accurate in result, neat in execution, 
and correct in metJiod according to the idea of the inspector. 
Questions in mental arithmetic must be answered promptly, 
and three answers out of four must be correct. 

Example of questions set for fourth class pupils in South 
Australia. 

Mental arithmetic : — 

(i.) My draper's account amounted to ;,^55 los., but I received 2^ 
per cent, discount : what was the actual amount I paid ? 
(2.) Find cost of a gross of exercise books at 4|d. each. 
(3.) How many square yards in a paddock one mile square ? 
(4.) Take one-eighth from one-half, and what is left ? 

Slate or paper arithmetic, forty-five minutes allowed : — 

Class IV. 

(i.) A rectangular garden, 20 yards by 12 yards, is to be covered with 
6 inches of manure. How much will it cost at 4s. 3d. a waggon load of 
2 cubic yards ? 

(2.) What will 138 men earn in a week, if 89 men earn ;i^i53 los. 6d. ? 
(unitary). 

(3. ) If a watch is set right at 9 o'clock on Monday morning, and 
loses 2 seconds every hour, what time will the watch show when it is 
really 9 o'clock on the Monday following ? 

(4.) A man bought 100 acres of land at 45s. an acre ; spent ^"45 in 
fencing, and £2'ifi in buildings. At what price must he sell the whole 
land so as to gain 5 per cent. ? 

(5.) A ton and a half of potatoes are divided equally among 24 poor 
families. How many stones will each get ? 



56 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The following is the approximate value attached to the 
various subjects as shown by the percentage of marks 
awarded for each. The calculation is based on the maxi- 
mum marks obtainable in an ordinary mixed school, under 
normal conditions of classification. About thirty-one per 
cent, of the total marks may be obtained for arithmetic, 
fifteen for reading, thirteen for spelling, fourteen for writing, 
fourteen for drawing, nine for language (this does not really 
show the importance attached to this subject, there being a 
special allowance for work in the junior part of the school), 
and four per cent, for needlework. In addition to the marks 
thus obtained, an allotment of not more than five per cent, 
of the maximum thus obtainable may be added at the dis- 
cretion of the inspector for the class subjects. 

The labour entailed in conducting an examination with 
the exactitude and detail required by the South Australian 
Education Department, is only equalled by the maturity of 
judgment necessary to make the whole affair anything more 
than a troublesome mechanical procedure. Probably, and 
I make this statement with due consideration after careful 
observation, no body of inspectors and teachers in the 
world have worked harder or with greater exactitude than 
those of South Australia. 

The English teacher complains, with justice, that the 
Education Department cares nothing for methods, and 
merely applies a mechanical test for results. The New 
York city teacher considers herself degraded to a mere 
machine by the way the superintendent has laid down 
methods by which every detail of the school work is to be 
taught. She complains that all individuality is crushed out 
by the working of a mechanical system. She not only has 
a given number of facts to teach, but a manual telling her 
exactly how she must teach it. 

The city of New York must not be taken as an example 
of the system followed in the United States generally. It 



How Work is Tested. 57 

is the result of the extreme apphcation of a method found 
very effective elsewhere. Some writers have fallen into the 
error of considering that the same judgment of the schools 
of the United States may be formed from the schools of 
New York as may be in the case of England from the 
Board schools of London. 

The English authorities estimate the value of a school 
by what they consider the results, while those of New 
York do so by the way in which the teachers carry out the 
directions of the Teachers' manual. Speaking generally of 
America, it may be said that the machinery and methods 
are more valued as means of judging the work of the 
teacher than are the measurable results obtained. 

In South Australia the attempt is made to attain both 
these ends. The department directs precisely what shall 
be taught, lays down rules as to how it is best to teach it, 
and tests the results more minutely than any other educa- 
tional authorities with which I am acquainted. The usual 
criticism passed by American teachers on the South Aus- 
tralian code, was to the effect that the examination seemed 
to be too exacting. In England, on the other hand, the 
first expression on the part of teacher or inspector who 
examined the course of study, was to the effect that it 
seemed to leave the teacher no choice of either methods, 
books, or anything else. To some extent both the criticisms 
are correct. That they are not so to a greater extent is due 
to the unusual qualifications of the Inspector-General of 
Schools, whose capacity for work is only equalled by his 
love for the cause of education. Exemplifying that charac- 
teristic of many who themselves are actuated by most 
unselfish motives, he refuses to credit the majority of 
teachers with possessing any of that love for work for its 
own sake which is the controlling power in himself. 

As a matter of fact, I never heard a hard-working enthu- 
siastic teacher complain that the fiiethods laid down in the 



58 Teaching in Three Continents. 

course of study in any way hampered his work ; but 
probably the teacher is not to be found who has not more 
or less complaint to make about the method of testing his 
work by an examination. If the methods are right, as they 
believe they are — being confined to general principles which 
admit of sufficient variation in detail — then it is contended 
that the examination is wrong, for it is impossible by it to 
test the methods employed. Moreover, the methods laid 
down are not rigid rules, but suggestions, and any teacher 
who can show a better way, or one more adapted to his 
particular requirements, is at liberty to follow it. 

My observations confirm my previous conviction as to 
the evils of the result examinations, and prove my conten- 
tion that they are not necessary to secure the best value for 
the public money expended. 

Teachers who have learned to work for no other object 
would, no doubt, do little for a time if they were suddenly 
abolished ; but they should gradually be made unnecessary, 
because they do not test the genuine work of the teacher. 
They are not a true measure of the pupil's intelligence, and 
very often not of his knowledge. They are detrimental to the 
intellectual, moral, and physical well-being of the children, 
and they are the cause of a certain amount of dishonesty in 
various forms on the part of pupils and teachers, though 
as often from omission as commission. 

Carried on at great cost of money and effort to secure 
reasonably, if not thoroughly honest work from lazy or 
dishonest men — for it would be manifestly absurd to spend 
so much money and effort unless it be to secure a proper 
performance of duty, and it is always admitted that the 
conscientious worker is better without the worry of outside 
interference — it fails in its purpose, while it tends to make 
a well-intentioned but somewhat weak teacher dishonest. 

But I would not dwell on the dishonesty caused, 
because that is not the most important of the objections to 



How Work is Tested. 59 

the system of Examination to test results. The greatest 
evil of all, is the false view which is created of the use of 
the school. It has created the idea that education consists 
in the knowledge of a few facts, and the ability to perform a 
few mechanical operations, rather than the power to think, 
and the love for the acquisition of knowledge. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE NEW EDUCATION. 
Kindergarten, etc. 

Conceptions of Education. — Cry for Practical Education. — Terms used. — 
Scope of Work. 

Kindergarten.— Conceptions of Term,— Nature of Frobel's Idea.— 
Means of Attaining it. — The Primary Grades of the United States. — 
Language Lessons. — Classes for Foreigners. — Course of Study in 
Receiving Class, San Francisco. — Want of Sympathy between 
Kindergarten and Primary Classes. — Infant School of England 
described. — No True Kindergarten connected with English Public 
Elementary Schools. — The American Kindergarten — Philadelphia, 
Toronto, San Francisco, St. Louis Kindergartens described. 

The Use of Pictures. 

Drawing and Form-Study. — United States ahead of England. — 
Massachusetts System. — System of New York State. — Supervisors. — 
Private Enterprise in Training Teachers. — Form-Study. — Language 
Lessons. 

" There is nothing new under the sun " is a much used 
aphorism, sometimes aptly expressing a truth, frequently 
hiding a falsehood. I am using the term "New Education," 
not because I like it, but because I found it in common 
use, and it appears to be the best available. The New 
Education is new only in a sense ; but in that connection 
it is new enough. There is nothing in regard to which 
educators or educationalists differ more than in the 
meaning they attach to the word "Education," and the 
means they would adopt to secure it for the young. I 
suppose it has always been so ; but at the same time there 
has been a dominating idea in each age, and among every 
people. 

To the Athenian, for example, education meant mental 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 6i 

and physical ]:)eauty — ^'a beautiful soul in a beautiful body" 
— and his chief means of attaining that ideal were, perhaps, 
gymnastics, music, and philosophy. Eloquence was the 
surest means of success in public life for a Roman — 
eloquence and debating power, in his idea, constituted 
the highest education. In the ages of aesthetic Christianity, 
the monastic idea prevailed that man was an utterly 
depraved, untrustworthy being, and education accordingly 
consisted in stifling and uprooting all natural instincts ; 
scourgmg the body that the soul might grow; destroying 
the house that the tenant might be happy in the ruins. 
During the period of the Renaissance, education became 
synonymous with classical culture, and a knowledge of the 
literatures of Greece and Rome in the original tongues. 
This idea, modified and broadened so as to include modern 
literature,, and later still, to embrace science, gives the pre- 
vailing conception of higher education in this latter half of 
the nineteenth century. 

But with this in itself I have nothing to do at present. 
All such conceptions were, in their realisation at all 
events, chiefly confined to a few ; but they have always 
supported a wider field of training which, less distinct, 
followed the same laws, and in its turn supplied its con- 
trolling parent with its vivifying power. But it is only 
of late years that education has extended to the whole 
people, and it is only since it has done so that the great 
development of educational thought has taken place— a 
development corresponding to the spread of the teaching 
of the newer, the more ennobling revelation of the rise of 
man, and confidence in his destiny. New and old are but 
relative in their meaning ; and, however old the idea may be, 
we are only beginning to practically put into operation the 
established conception that education is no longer to be 
considered a war against nature, but an alliance with her : 
not the suppression of inclinations, not training by what is 



62 Teaching in Three Continents. 

distasteful and disagreeable, but the nurturing, the develop- 
ing of those loves and likes which so early manifest them- 
selves in childhood — fostering of the good, that the evil 
tendencies may not have room to grow. 

With the movement towards basing the training of 
young people on the principles of psychology, has grown 
up another, originating in the opposite wish to make educa- 
tion more practical, a more real fitting for the active 
duties of life, which the pupils will be called upon to fulfil 
when earning a livelihood. These two apparently antagon- 
istic movements are largely in harmony. They are, in fact, 
related conclusions, the one resting on empirical, the other 
on theoretical basis. No position can be stronger than 
that one based on scientific reasoning and demanded by 
practical experience. Either might err ; the two, never. 

This movement is variously known as Technical Edu- 
cation, Practical Education, Industrial Education, Whole 
Education, Utilitarian Education, Hand-and-Eye Education, 
Manual Training, the New Education, and by many other 
names. Its various advocates do not agree either in their 
reasoning or their demands ; but this is neither to be 
wondered at nor altogether deplored. It matters little by 
what name it is called, if the children get it; and get it 
they will, if their teachers have the wisdom to guide and 
the will to work. That which is passing away has done 
its work ; let us bow our heads in reverence before its 
departing spirit, and prepare to give it decent burial, raising 
over it the inscription, " Served its appointed time, and 
died hard." 

It is not my purpose to enter into the theory of modern 
education, but to record my observations with regard to 
some of the attempts being made to put it into practice. 

Science teaching will receive separate consideration. 
I propose in this place to compare the various concep- 
tions of Kindergarten, form study, and drawing, various 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 63 

schemes of handiwork, hand -and -eye training, Sloyd, 
manual instruction, cookery and needlework, for ele- 
mentary and intermediate schools ; with technical, and 
industrial, and manual training for higher schools. These 
are undoubtedly the most warmly debated topics in edu- 
cational circles. The terms are used in a way which 
leads to much confusion ; but there are certain clear ideas 
round which the opinions may be grouped. These are 
somewhat broadly indicated by the arrangement I have 
adopted above. In dealing with the subject I have hesi- 
tated which of two courses to adopt. I might have taken 
the whole subject as dealt with in England, where the 
industrial idea predominates, and then pursue the same 
course wath respect to America, showing how the same 
work is advocated more from an educational point of view ; 
or, as for the present purpose seems preferable, I may 
treat each division as a whole in reference to the various 
countries I visited. 

KINDERGARTEN. 

The American conception of the word Kindergarten 
differs very much from the idea ordinarily conveyed by the 
same word in England, where, probably, no w^ord is more 
frequently used in connection with the progress of education. 
Yet I did not find one true Kindergarten in connection with 
an English public elementary school. I saw^ an abundance 
of so-called " Kindergarten work," but not a Kindergarten. 
In America, both in Canada and the United States, I 
saw many. 

After making a statement like this, it becomes necessary 
to recall the origin of the term and its significance. Such 
an inquiry may or may not prove anything with regard to 
the actual value of the teaching ; but it will show that the 
term Kindergarten as used in English schools, has very 
little of the meaning attached to it by the founder. The 



64 Teaching in Three Continents. 

occupations are an essential part of the Kindergarten 
system, but do not constitute it. 

The idea apparently held by most infant teachers, and 
certainly by members of School Boards, and others whose 
interest in schools and school work is in the highest de- 
gree pleasing and beneficial, is that the Kindergarten is the 
preliminary stage of preparation for industries, and the begin- 
ning of manual work. In its way it serves both these ends. 
If children are to be prepared to become artisans and manu- 
facturers, the Kindergarten is the best beginning, because it 
gives the elements of industry from their starting point in 
nature. But this preparation is but incidental. It is equally 
beneficial without this ulterior object. In the true Kinder- 
garten, such as its founder contemplated, the industry of the 
child is a means. It does not attach value to the things 
made, but to the making of things. It is the experience 
gained in applying natural laws for making the inward 
thought appear in outward form. The paper mat, a drawing, 
or a piece of fashioned clay, is, or should be, the expression 
of an idea, which under the patient industry of the child 
has taken form outside the mind. The child expressed this 
very prettily when she told her mother during a chat about 
her school, that in drawing "you had to think and think 
and then put a line round your think."* 

And so, in my visits to Kindergartens and to infant 
schools, I did not wish so much to see the stores of pretty 
things which had been made, as to see why and how the 
children made them. If a mat be considered merely as a 
pretty thing to be made, it is worthy of a place in the school 
for little children ; and the infants' schools are therefore to 
be commended for introducing the busy work misnamed 
Kindergarten. But the mat must not be considered merely 
as a thing to be made; that is only incidental. I'rue, it 

* A fact. 



The Nfav Education — Kindergarten, 65 

must be made ; but only as a means of awakening the in- 
ventive faculty, of utilising thought through the hands, to 
again stimulate thought. 

It is necessary to draw a clear distinction between the 
message of Ft-bbel^ with regard to education as a whole, 
which will be applicable to the requirements of children of 
all ages for some generations to come, if they do not, as his 
enthusiastic disciples assert, " prove the principles on which 
true education will be based for all time " ; and the system he 
worked out for the early education of childhood, which is 
known as the Kindergarten. 

Frobel's message is general, and is rather distinguished, 
as philosophy must be, by the absence of ".methods." It 
is a gospel . of love and unity, of harmony of nature, of 
common sense ; and therefore concerns the whole life of 
man in alfTiis relations, social and individual. Indeed, 
much is not new, but it is a clearly applicable statement of 
what is old. 

The way in which a certain branch of knowledge shall 
be taught is manifestly dependent on one's ideas of the 
nature of the particular study, which ideas are seldom or 
never alike in two generations. 

Frobel's writings are generally conspicuously free from 
references to methods and branches of study, but are full 
of the loving spirit which must pervade every successful 
method which has for its object the liberating of the eternal, 
life-giving forces of the human mind. 

With regard to the Kindergarten, the case is somewhat 
different. He did elaborate a system ; not rigid it is true, 
but not the less a system of harmonious development of the 
child in its first searches after knowledge. Recognising the 
child as a bundle of possibilities bound by three relation- 
ships — to God, to nature, and to his feilow-man — each 
involving necessities and duties, each capable of successful 
reahsation, each subject to the possibility of failure, he set 

F 



66 Teaching in Three Continents. 

himself to develop a theory of child-education. The result 
was his Kindergarten, complete in itself for the conditions 
for which it was formulated. The threefold object is never 
lost sight of It is to be a complete world in miniature, a 
child garden, where the pupil will grow by itself through 
nature, but under the fostering care of the human gardener, 
who will keep back the undesired, and allow the good to 
grow in its own way. It was to take the child from the 
nursery, and introduce him into a community of his equals, 
in which the usual incidents of child-life are constantly 
taking place. These little difficulties have to be adjusted, 
and in the adjustment he obtains experience that has much 
to do with the formation of character. He must respect 
the rights of others as well as assert his own. The chief 
end and aim of a Kindergarten is to lead a child to love 
that which is good and true, and to do it by the utilisa- 
tion of those energies which are most pleasing and 
agreeable. 

To accomplish this aim, he considered that a child must 
pass through the same series of steps or stages as the 
human race in its upward progress. In other words, the 
way God has conducted the education of the human race 
must be the pattern whereby we should endeavour to 
educate the child ; but if we proceed aright we may spare 
the child the details of experiment. Much of his system is 
based on the motto, " Often may a symbol teach, what thy 
reason cannot reach^ 

He held that, "just as the savage has his fetich, as the 
people of antiquity in a higher stage of culture personified 
their ideas in the form of their gods and various allegories, 
as even the Christian Church does not attempt to make 
itself understood without symbols ; so the deepest need of 
childhood is to make the intellectual its own through 
symbols or sensuous forms." Children should therefore 
first read the only book God gave humanity in its child- 



The Ne]v Education — Kindergarten. 67 

hood — the world in which man hves, the works in which 
He has manifested His divine thoughts. 

" School is the effort to acquaint the pupil with the true 
nature and inner life of things, and to bring him into a 
consciousness of his own inner life and nature, and to 
acquaint him with the real relation of things to each other 
and also to mankind, to the pupil himself, and to the living 
ground and self-conscious unity of all things." 

The means for the accomplishment of this high aim are 
contained in his remarkable book " The Mother Play and 
Nursery Songs," w^ith regard to which he often said, "I have 
here laid down the fundamental ideas of my educational 
theory : whoever has grasped the pivot idea of this book 
understands what I am aiming at " ; and the Baroness 
Marenholtz, who more than any one else has been Frobel's 
interpreter to the world, says, " The keynote of the book is 
the analogy between the development of humanity from its 
earliest infancy, and the development of the individual." 
That is to say, the fundamental ideas of Frobel's system 
are symbolism, analogy, the unity of life. 

The world is a great schoolroom of the human race ; 
all objects of nature are God's gifts to man for his educa- 
tion. These he symbolised by a few^ elementary forms in 
which are expressed all the properties common to material 
things, and which he termed Kindergarten gifts. 

Again, he held that the whole education of man comes 
through activities which are conditioned upon material 
things. The race has so developed, each individual so 
develops ; hence he was never tired of saying that children 
must learn by doing. Therefore the Kindergarten occupations 
correspond to the activities of the greater world of grown 
people, and the games abound in representations of animal 
life and of the phenomena of the external world. 

Frbbel said : — " The worth of my Kindergarten material 
is found exclusively in their application — that is, in the 
F 2 



68 Teaching in Three Continents. 

method in which I use them. But this method consists in 
the appHcation of the law of contrasts and their connections. 
The ivJioIe meaning of my educational method rests upon this 
laiv alone. ^^ 

I have dwelt thus lengthily on what is in itself a very 
interesting subject, solely that I may not be misunderstood 
in references I make to the excellent but misnamed " Kin- 
dergarten methods " in elementary schools, and in connec- 
tion with manual training. 

Primary Classes of the United States. 

In no respect do the English and Australian elementary 
public schools differ from those of the United States and 
that portion of Canada which I visited, more than in the 
accommodation and method of teaching adopted for the 
younger children. The infant school of England and 
Australia has, so far as I am aware, no representative in 
America. 

In the greater number of the United States the schools 
are free for pupils from six to twenty-one years of age. 
Occasionally this varies. In Connecticut, for example, it is 
from four to sixteen, and in a few States it is from five to 
twenty-one. On admission the pupil enters the primary 
grade, the room for the accommodation of which does not 
vary greatly from those devoted to other classes. The 
children usually have exceedingly comfortable single desks 
and seats suited to their age, the blackboards are fixed 
nearer to the floor, and there is not infrequently a greater 
or less supply of pictures. The methods of teaching are 
adapted to the age of the pupils ; and prominence is given 
to exercises and songs. The methods of teaching vary con- 
siderably in different schools, cities, and States, depending 
largely on the opinions held by the ruling spirit, who is 
generally the superintendent. They also vary a good deal 



The Neiv Education — Kindergarten. 69 

from those most frequently inculcated in English training 
colleges and practised in the schools. This necessarily 
follows from the fact that the requirements are different. In 
most of the States, for example, children do not deal with 
numbers higher than ten before they are seven or eight years 
of age ; but they perform any operation involving no higher 
number, first with objects and then mentally. 

Language Lessons. 

Again, great importance is attached to the language 
lesson, which is, I understand, unknown as such in English 
schools. These are to supplement all other lessons, and 
are probably the foundation of that faculty of ready expres- 
sion and correct speech among the mass of the American 
people. 

To what extent the origin of this excellent custom is due 
to the need for dealing with the children of foreigners, I 
cannot' say. In schools attended by new arrivals in Boston 
very little else can be done for some months. I visited 
several, where w^iole classes were unable to speak more 
than two or three words of English. The treatment of 
these children is worthy of notice. They are gathered into 
schools and placed in the primary classes — of course irre- 
spective of age — under experienced and capable teachers, 
who are unable to speak any language other than good 
English. Perhaps it w^as unnecessary for me to have said 
"capable teachers," for one can hardly imagine any but a 
capable teacher taking charge of forty boys of all ages and 
nationalities — Italians, Russians, French, Germans, Poles, 
Austrians, Polish Jews — unable to understand her, or she 
them, except by signs. The mode of procedure which 
proves so successful, is worthy of imitation by some who 
profess to teach French and German in English and 
Australian schools. These sometimes succeed —but that is 



70 Teaching in Three Continents. 

through no fault of theirs. Usually they manage to create 
an utter dislike for the language they are supposed to teach 
by cramming a few unintelligible declensions ; but any 
knowledge of the language they seldom give. Grammar 
— which is created after a language — is placed by these 
people first. I must not digress further on this point. 
The teachers in these schools for foreigners teach their 
pupils English as a child learns it. The names of the most 
familiar things are taught first. The teacher holds up a 
hat, and making the pupils watch her mouth, she says, "This 
is a hat," several times, and they repeat the sentence. "This 
is a hat, this is a book, this is a slate, this is a pen," if she 
has the article in her hand; or if she points to it, " that is a 
desk, that is a coat," and so forth. Then she sends one 
child for a hat, another to bring a slate, a third to pick up 
a pen, and so on. 

The written language is taken at the same time as the 
spoken, and reading follows later. The principle followed 
is that nothing but good, clearly enunciated English shall 
be heard by the pupil, and all sentences must be complete. 
He writes nothing he cannot speak, and must speak all he 
can write. By the time these boys and girls have been at 
school a year or two, they are able to both speak and write 
fluently. Some make very rapid progress. I saw an Italian 
lad who entered the ungraded class not knowing a word of 
English at ten, passed through the eight grades of primary 
and grammar school by the time he was fourteen, and gra- 
duated fifth in his class for the high school. I heard his 
brother, who was doing equally w^ell, and several others, 
read from a piece of English poetry, with good expression 
and correct pronunciation. "This is the way we try and 
make Americans of the scourings of Europe, which our 
Government ought to prohibit from landing here," said one 
of the masters to me after I had spent some time in the 
school. 



The New Education— Kindergarten. 



7^ 



In the primary grades of ordinary schools, the attention 
paid to language is a most noticeable feature. In addition 
to the regular Language Lessons, in connection with which 
pictures are largely used — some of the publishing houses 
selling special sets for this purpose — every oral lesson is 
supposed to be a language lesson. The children have to 
answer questions and make statements in the form of 
complete and correct sentences. I will quote a typical 
course of study in language for the receiving class of the 
San Francisco schools. 

Primary Grades. 

" Course of Study, Receiving Class. Language : — 

" Have familiar chats in pleasant, conversational tone, to enable 
pupils to gain freedom of expression. 

" Require complete statements from pupils in reference to their names 
and addresses, and about things which they see and do. 

" Require reproduction orally, of short stories read or told to them 
by the teacher. 

' ' Memorise short gems of prose and poetry. 

" Name the parts of the body, as head, arms, &c., and their positions 
as to right and left. 

" Teach the organs of sense and the location of the same. 

*' Teach the names of the days of the week." 

The children entering the class for which the above 
directions are given would be from six to seven years of 
age. 

It is not unusual to find such instructions as the 
following in the manuals published for the use of teachers. 
These are again taken from the Course of Study for the 
schools of San Francisco, and apply to the receiving and 
first primary grades : — 

'■^ Music. — Singing and playing symbolic songs and games, motion 
songs and other songs, as prescribed in Kindergarten work. 

** Physical Exercises. — Have physical exercises every half-hour, with 
windows and doors open, using arm movements and breathing exercises. 



72 Teaching in Three Continents. 

'■^ Oral Inslruttion. — Teach the name, production, and use of sur- 
rounding objects. Hold familiar talks about such animals as the cat, 
the dog, the cow, and the horse ; also about parts of the human body, 
and the senses. • 

'■.'■Morals and Manners. — Teach self-control, and independence by 
encouraging true effort. Teach the value of cleanliness, industry, 
punctuality, politeness, honesty, obedience, and patriotism. 

'•^Kindergarten Inst7'2iction. — Apply the principles of the Kinder- 
garten Instruction in teaching all subjects, as: (i) Proceed from the 
known to the unknown, (2) Proceed from the whole to the parts, (3) 
Learn to do by doing. 

"All Kindergarten work under the direction of the special Kinder- 
garten teacher. 

" Use the six coloured worsted balls, the sphere, the cube, and the 
cylinder, the coloured sticks, the rings, and the tablets for observing les- 
sons to develop ideas of : — 

*' Colour. — Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. 

^^Form. — Sphere, cube, and cylinder, and from these surfaces, faces, 
edges, lines, squares, and the like. All new terms and all new shapes 
to be taken from the object. 

'■'■Motion^ Position, Arrangement, Location. — Roll, slide, top, bot- 
tom, etc. 

^^ Prominent qualities and objects. — Rough, smooth, hard, soft, and 
the like. 

^^ Size. — Large, small, long, short, and the like. 

*' Occupation Work. — Sewing, weaving, paper folding, and clay 
modelling to supplement work with solids, tablets, sticks, and rings, and 
to work out ideas, gained through the use of these solids, etc. 

^'Modelling. — Solids in clay, and a few simple objects based on the 
type forms. 

This programme, together with reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, constitutes the " course of study " for the 
primary grade of San Francisco, and, except that there is 
more " Kindergarten " than usual, may be taken as typical ; 
but from what 1 saw^ I am inclined to think that " Busy 
work " would be a better name than " Kindergarten work." 

Usually the teachers begrudge the time they have to 
give to the subject. Examples of mats, embroidery, paper 
folding, and clay modelling were always to be seen ; but the 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 73 

replies of teachers outside a few special schools convinced 
me that the teachers do not yet understand it. They would 
use the words of one who, when asked what she considered 
the influence of the work on the pupils, said : " It is in the 
course of study, and I teach it." She was also not alone in 
her opinion that if " Kindergarten work " is to be taken, it 
should be before school age, />., before six, for after that 
age all time is needed for reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
The primary teachers do not usually consider the so-called 
Kindergarten anything more than manual training or busy 
work. The same may be said of most of the primary grade 
teachers whom I saw at work. In fact, some of the 
strongest opposition to true Kindergartens comes from the 
primary grade teachers. 

So far as my observation extended — and I paid con- 
siderable attention to this point — I have little hesitation in 
saying that there is as little of the true spirit of Kinder- 
garten in the primary grades of the schools of the United 
States as in the English infant schools. 

Perhaps it can hardly be otherwise. A watch case is of 
no use without the works, and if Frobel's system be com- 
plete it cannot be divided. It must be taken as a whole or 
left alone. When a primary or an infant school teacher 
understands the principles, laws, and symbolism of the 
Kindergarten, she will not attempt to tack on a part of the 
means therein adopted, but she will use the principles in 
other ways. Mrs. Mary H. Peabody not inaptly says : — 

" The Kindergarten as a thing complete in itself cannot 
be extended. As a form of training preparatory to the 
school, it is organised for and adapted to the youngest 
children, and as a form of instruction, with its occupations, 
games, and exercises limited to their working capacity, it 
cannot be used as a mere repetition in older classes. But 
while thus leaving the form, we still have to consider the 
underlying principles, elements, methods, and spirit of the 



74 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Kindergarten, for these, if natural and true, will serve as a 
point of contact between the Kindergarten and school 
which is always seeking for natural methods, and often 
ground upon which schemes of education may be wrought 
out ; and so we have before us the true substance of the 
Kindergarten, the school as it is, and the possible union of 
the two upon the basis of a natural method of education." 

E7iglish Infant Schools. 

The English or Australian infant school usually consists 
of a large oblong room, with one or more class-rooms at- 
tached. Usually one of the latter is a small room with a 
gallery, known as the " babies' room," in which are children 
from three years of age. The large room is usually provided 
with — 

[a) A gallery on which all the pupils can be massed for 
singing and other united exercises, and very pretty and 
beneficial they are. The pretty and educative active songs 
of the infant schools are often identical with the symbol 
songs of the Kindergarten ; but they are disjointed units 
instead of being parts of a whole. 

[b) A large open floor space used for marching, and in 
the better schools for games such as form such a prominent 
feature in the Kindergarten. The large amount of work 
necessary for the examinations prevents full use being made 
of this part of the room. 

{c) A portion, sometimes terraced, sometimes with level 
floor, seated with dual desks for writing. In the more re- 
cently built English infant schools, the desks have adjustable 
tops, so that they can be made flat for "Kindergarten work" 
or sloping for writing. They are marked out in one-inch 
squares, the same as a Kindergarten table. 

The best schools are provided with pianos, which have 
usually been paid for by subscription, or with money raised 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 



75 



by concerts. Many which have no piano have a small 
harmonium for marching purposes. 

It would be impossible to speak too highly of some of the 
infant schools I have visited ; but many appear to have no 
higher ideal than the examination. I frequently left schools, 
feeling pained at what I had seen of little dots of children, 
whose young bodies and tender, budding minds are alike 
unfit for close and continued attention, having to spend 
more than half their time on backless forms, sitting in one 
cramped position of " attention " for more than thirty or 
forty minutes at a stretch, under fear of severe penalty, pre- 
paring for examination. Classes of fifty in charge of inex- 
perienced girls, who " don't mind teaching if they could 
only keep the children quiet ; but they are so 7-estless!^ I 
several times hastily excused myself and hurried out into the 
street, unable to longer bear the sight of mites of babies 
" from two to three years of age " learning to write, read, 
and do addition sums involving hundreds ! In one babies' 
room where this was going on, the pupil-teacher of the 
second year was in charge of fifty children, and said she had 
eighty towards the close of the year. She said, " she had 
to spend most of her time at reading, writing, and arithme- 
tic, but they had singing several times a week. They also 
made wool balls and did Kindergarten sewing. I asked 
what the Kindergarten was for, and she replied, "Ah, they 
got better marks at the examination if they did Kinder- 
garten." 

In another school, the mistress, in reply to a remark I 
made about the babies doing sums and writing, said, " Yes, 
I like to have them in as soon as possible, for I find that 
those children who commence at from two to three years of 
age make 'splendid fivers,'" which I found meant, would 
pass the required examination at five without trouble ! 

I believe it is not long since the English Parliament 
passed a Factory Act prohibiting the employment of child 



76 Teaching in Three Continents. 

laljour ; and I read while in London of prosecutions of 
theatrical managers for employing children of tender years. 
The next need will be, if England retains her result system, 
an Infant School Act to ameliorate the condition of the 
poor little things who are supposed to be under a process of 
beneficial education ! 

I have spoken of two extremes. The greater number of 
infant schools are intermediate between the two classes I 
have mentioned. They are usually much more liberally 
provided with pictures than the primary schools of the 
United States. The teachers appear diligent and hard- 
working, according to the standard set before them. They 
are very anxious that a visitor should see how well the pupils 
write, the kind of sums they do, hear how they recite selec- 
tions of suitable poetry, and mark their proficiency in 
reading. The mechanical part of all these exercises is 
splendidly done. The work is all very desirable at the 
proper time, and for doing it the teachers are paid, or rather, 
it is the means by which the success attending the efforts of 
the teachers is judged. They may therefore be considered 
to fulfil their duties when they attain the ends fixed by the 
authorities. They do more than the minimum required ; 
but it is on the same lines, and is rather a matter for regret 
than commendation. They work conscientiously according 
to their light, and if the light is too often of the nature of 
twilight, the blame must be largely attached to the authori- 
ties. Of course, not altogether so : we cannot blame a 
man for not seeing the true beauties of a landscape through 
blue spectacles, but we can for putting on the spectacles. 

An account of the English infant school would not be 
complete without reference to the noble work of the women 
who conduct these schools in the poor districts, which are 
not usually seen by visitors. The tender motherly care 
which the children receive in these schools must be one 
of the most humanising influences at work in the great 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 77 

cities ; but I did often wish that they would not further 
deaden the small spark of sensitiveness remaining in the 
breasts of the forlorn creatures, by wishing to show off the 
wretchedness and raggedness of the barefooted unfortunates 
in much the same way that a dime museum proprietor shows 
off his abortions and " curiosities." " This way, ladies and 
gentlemen, and I will first draw your attention to the curious 
freak of nature, the armless girl, who sews, knits, and plays 
the piano with her feet. You will " — and so forth, says the 
showman. In the same way some of these well-intentioned 
and, at heart, kind and sympathetic teachers, would call 
upon the most woebegone child in the room to stand and 
step out, while she pointed out the marks of his poverty 
loud enough for the pupils to hear, and in as matter-of-fact 
manner as a man might discuss the "points" of a horse 
at an agricultural show. In one school where this was 
done in several rooms, the mistress also made two com- 
fortably dressed boys stand out, while she explained that 
they had been as miserable as the others, but she had 
obtained clothing for them from friends. I consider such 
treatment positively cruel, whatever the motive may be. 
It is certainly unnecessary to point out marks of poverty 
to an Australian : it is one of the first things which strike 
him in Europe. I well remember my first experience in 
this respect nine years since. Things become noticeable 
by contrast, and the contrast between Australia and 
England is prominent enough in this respect. 

Would it not be well to make the salaries of the teachers 
of the schools in the poor parts of every city, higher than 
those prevailing elsewhere, and make the positions depend- 
ent on special qualifications ? Children everywhere require 
the best of teachers, but the need is especially urgent in the 
case of the poor little beings almost without homes. It is 
apparently in this respect that the Maternal Schools of Paris 
excel ; they feed and clothe as well as teach the children. 



78 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Granting the correctness of my observations, I have 
sufficiently proved my statement that the Kindergarten as 
understood by the founder and his followers does not exist 
in connection with English public elementary schools, and 
that the work known as Kindergarten is misnamed, inasmuch 
as it is not, if it was ever intended to be, in keeping 
with the idea of Frobel's leading principle of analogy, or 
the unity of life. But I would again repeat that this has 
nothing to do with the value or otherwise of the work 
known as Kindergarten. In fact, I may state — for repetition 
in such a matter is useful — that the influence of even the 
small amount of Busy Work or Manual Instruction which 
I saw in the Infant Schools must be in the highest degree 
beneficial ; and I can further add, that I think the adoption 
of those principles of education which are common to all 
true plans of education, is doing much to revolutionise the 
work of the schools. 

The genial and able clerk of an important School 
Board, whose kind assistance in furthering my investigations 
I shall always gratefully remember, informed me that his 
Board had sent a teacher to Germany for three months to 
study the system (in St. Louis, Toronto, and other places, 
two years' study and practice are required in order to 
qualify for the position of director of a Kindergarten), 
and they had also brought over a German lady teacher to 
instruct their teachers in the system. His experience, and it 
agreed with that of most men who had studied the subject, 
was that the Germans were not practical enough. Frobel 
was not practical. His system was all theory; it would 
never get results. His ideas about symbolism and all that 
were altogether ideal. The English people had reduced 
Kindergarten to practice. Just so, and the reduction has 
been thorough. The resultant system is as complete, as the 
solemnisation of a wedding with the bride absent. 

The Kindergarten was never intended as an associate of 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 79 

a system of teaching the conventionahties of learning, and 
is as much out of place there, as a Mississippi river boat on 
the stormy Atlantic. ^Vhat it was intended to do, and what 
its advocates claim it will do, is thus summed up by an 
English lecturer : " What the Kindergarten has to show are 
happy, healthy, good-natured children ; no proficiency in 
learning of any kind, no precocity, but just children in their 
normal state. The Kindergarten rejects reading, writing, 
ciphering, spelling. In it children under six years build, 
plait, fold, model, sing, act ; in short, they learn in play to 
work, to construct, to invent, to relate and speak correctly, 
and what is best of all, to love each other, to be kind to 
each other, to help each other." 

This aim I believe is attained in some private Kinder- 
gartens in England, although I did not see them ; but I 
visited infant schools whose teachers fully understand the 
aim, and would gladly carry it out if they had the oppor- 
tunity. They have made those principles, which Frobel 
did not invent, but clearly demonstrated, their own, and 
applied them in their work as he did in his Kindergarten. 
These teachers stated that they w^ould like the "Babies' 
Class " made a Kindergarten, and then proceed by a natural 
transition to the work, which they now have to enforce at an 
age when it is detrimental to the future wellbeing of the 
children. 

The American Kindergarten. 

What I have indicated that the most advanced English 
infant school teachers would like to do, is being done in 
" sixteen States and twenty-five cities " of the United States, 
as well as in, at least, one city of Canada. Frobel ex- 
pressed the opinion that " the Kindergarten could only 
have its full development in America, where the national 
principle is self-government; in perfect freedom, but accord- 
ing to law." However this may be, it was introduced early 



8o Teaching in Three Continents. 

into the United States by his pupils, who founded private 
Kindergartens. 

It is not my intention to trace the history of the 
movement, which is typical of the manner in which reforms 
are almost invariably initiated in the schools of the United 
States, and as a few moments' thought will show, of other 
countries as well. 

The first Kindergartens struggled against great draw- 
backs. Ladies of means were attracted by the value of 
the principle, and provided funds for establishing charity 
Kindergartens, while others became popular for the children 
of well-to-do parents. About 1870, Miss Blow, an enthu- 
siastic Kindergartener, offered to train a teacher and direct a 
Kindergarten in connection with one of the schools of 
St. Louis, to show the adaptability of the system as a pre- 
paration for ordinary school life. After several years, the 
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Harris, now United States 
Superintendent at Washington, succeeded in inducing his 
committee to accept the offer, and the school Avas estab- 
lished in 1873, with an average attendance of forty-two. A 
gradual extension of the system has taken place since then. 
At the time of my visit there were fifty-three Kindergartens, 
taught by one hundred and thirty-one paid and sixty-five 
unpaid teachers, with six thousand two hundred pupils 
enrolled, and an average attendance of three thousand eight 
hundred pupils. 

In Boston, the progress of the Kindergarten movement 
has been chiefly due to the charity of Mrs. Quincey A. Shaw 
(daughter of Professor L. Agassiz, the Naturalist). In 1887, 
she started four schools at her own expense, next year she 
opened fourteen more ; all were free, and in connection with 
schools situated in districts inhabited by the labouring 
classes. In a few years she had established thirty schools, 
which she supported at an annual cost of nearly ten 
thousand pounds. About a year since she handed them 



The New Education— Kindergarten. 8i 

all over to the School Board, free of expense, on condition 
that the Board would work them. Not only has the Board 
adopted those so generously provided, but, having thus 
affirmed the principle, it is establishing Kindergartens as 
rapidly as possible in connection with the other schools. It 
must be understood in connection with this movement, that 
hitherto there had been no provision for the training of 
children of the age taken in the English infant school. 
The Kindergartens, therefore, of which I am speaking, take 
the place of the two first years of English infant school 
life. 

Philadelphia has largely adopted the public Kinder- 
garten as a sub-primary preparation, having in 1887 taken 
over twenty-five schools established in conjunction with the 
public schools by a private society, formed for the purpose 
of showing the School Board their value as an addition to 
the school system. The Superintendent objects to the 
name Kindergarten, although they are arranged on Frobel's 
plan, because it makes them appear as something separate 
from the public system, instead of being an integral part of 
it. He suggests the term " Sub-Primary." Public Kinder- 
gartens are being rapidly established and incorporated into 
the public school system in a great number of States, and 
will complete the gradation of American schools. 

In Toronto, Canada, true Kindergartens are being 
established as quickly as possible in connection with all the 
schools. A number are already in operation, and are being 
used as a training-ground for Kindergarteners for the new 
Kindergartens. A training- class is also in operation. Two 
years' training are required to qualify a teacher to take the 
position of director. A year is spent in a Kindergarten as 
voluntary assistant, or in a training-class. If a student is 
serving as a voluntary assistant, she must attend lectures 
several times a week on the theory of the gifts, occupations, 
and games. At the end of the year she must pass an 

G 



82 Teaching in Three Continents. 

examination in practical work, after which she is ehgible 
for the position of paid assistant. Paid assistants meet 
once a week for instruction in Frobel's principles, etc., by 
the Supervisor. At the end of the year, on passing an 
examination in the theory and symbolism of the gifts, 
songs, etc., and satisfying the examiners with regard to 
ability for practical management, the teacher becomes 
eligible for the position of director. 

Mention should be made of the success of the private 
free Kindergarten in San Francisco under the presidency 
of Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, who for nine years has, with 
the aid of generous ladies of the city, established over 
thirty schools. Many persons of wealth have been induced 
to study the system and its work for themselves, and, 
becoming convinced of its value, have generously given 
money for the support of free Kindergartens. One 
wealthy lady has given over 40,000 dollars for this object, 
supporting eight schools, two of which she has under 
her direct supervision. There are at present over 3,000 
children attending these free Kindergartens. The children 
are too young to be admitted to the public schools, their 
ages ranging from two and a half to six years, and would 
otherwise be receiving vicious training in the streets. In 
the Kindergarten they are taught habits of cleanliness 
and industry, and become familiar with the customs and 
usages of well-ordered lives. 

It is said that the influence of the Kindergarten is very 
noticeable when the children enter the public schools. 
They take a good place in the primary classes, and usually 
progress more rapidly. This is becoming, I believe, so 
apparent, that it is the cause of the growing desire to 
establish Kindergartens in connection with the public schools, 
as an integral part of the system. 

The teachers of these Kindergartens are veritable mis- 
sionaries, for, like their sisters in St. Louis and Boston, they 



The New Education— Kindergarten. 83 

work in the homes as well as in the schools. If necessary, 
they feed and clothe the poorer children, who, in conse- 
quence, present anything but a disconsolate appearance to 
the visitor. " These ladies are often called upon to settle 
family disputes, to advise perplexed mothers, and to protect 
some of their little flock from the severities of drunken 
mothers, and the neglect of besotted fathers. When we 
reflect upon the conditions of such homes, we must bestow 
unstinted praise upon the women who thus go into them, to 
carry out their educational work with little children." 

The general plan of American Kindergarten rooms is 
as uniform as that of the English infant school rooms ; but 
just as the latter vary in details, elaborateness of finish, and 
furniture, so do the rooms for Kindergarten. They usually 
lack one feature of the ideal Kindergarten — that is, the 
small plots of ground where the pupils may plant seeds or 
cuttings, water, watch, and tend them, and enjoy for their 
own the product in the form of the resultant flowers. This 
want is to some extent supplied by the use of flower- 
pots and window-boxes. In St. Louis the Kindergarten, 
although associated with the public school, is usually more 
or less detached. Not unfrequently it is held in a room 
specially built in the playground, quite apart from the 
regular school. Such was the case with the first I visited. 
Others are attached to the main buildings, but have 
separate entrances. In this, convenience and economy are 
seen to have had the same influence as in the determination 
of the English infant school. 

In some cases Kindergartens are conducted in assembly 
or other convenient hired rooms. I visited one held in a 
fine, airy, well-lighted room over a beer saloon. This was 
in the quarter of the city chiefly occupied by German 
citizens, which constitute a considerable proportion of the 
population of St. Louis. To those who understand German 
customs, this will be quite sufficient to explain that no 

G 2 



84 Teaching in Three Continents. 

comparison must be made between a Kindergarten over 
such a beer saloon, and an infant school over a London 
public-house bar or " gin palace." Still, it was explained that 
the arrangement was a temporary one of necessity. 

The accommodation usually consists of a large rect- 
angular room, generally lighted on two or three sides, with 
convenient cloak-rooms and lavatories, and plenty of cup- 
boards for the storage of new and used material. 

Three hours a day are considered sufficient for a child 
to attend a Kindergarten ; consequently, the same rooms 
are generally used for two sets of children. Some teachers 
work both morning and afternoon, but, as a rule, a different 
staff is employed for the afternoon Kindergarten. The 
rooms are invariably well built and nicely finished, being 
painted in unobtrusive, soft, harmonious colours. This will 
apply to nearly all the schoolrooms of the United States 
which I saw. They are always clean, always bright, always 
harmonious. 

At the commencement of the school year, when the 
pupils first enter the Kindergarten, the walls are merely 
decorated with a few pictures. At the close, they are fre- 
quently literally covered with decorative devices made by 
the children. I was sometimes shown designs which it was 
intended to work out during the year, all the work being 
done by the children ; the controlling idea being, that when 
the pupil first enters the Kindergarten there is sufficient 
novelty in all the surroundings to thoroughly exercise his 
powers of observation. To add more would distract him. 
As he becomes familiar with his surroundings, his con- 
structive powers are exercised in adding new variety and 
charm to his school home. The exercise is educative in 
many ways, not least in that it shows him how the com- 
bined efforts of himself and neighbours at dissimilar work 
produce a complete and harmonious result — the law of 
which Frobel was so fond. 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 85 

The furniture consists of small bent wood children's 
arm-chairs, such as are used in nurseries, and small tables, 
each table to accommodate two children. The surface of 
each table is marked into squares of one inch, to guide the 
children in many of their occupations. In some cities 
large tables are used to accommodate ten or twelve children, 
but the St. Louis teachers advocate the small ones as being 
more convenient. A few minutes are sufficient for the 
children to move their own chairs and tables to the 
sides of the room, leaving the floor clear for games and 
exercises. The floor is usually marked with devices to 
assist in carrying out the games. 

One of the strongest arguments used by Dr. Harris, in 
advocating the establishment of Kindergartens, was the 
benefit they would be to the children of the poorer 
districts of the city, where it was found that pupils usually 
left school at ten years of age. Without a compulsory law, 
the period of school influence could only be extended 
by drawing the children into school earlier. I therefore 
visited several of the Kindergartens in the most disreput- 
able parts of the town. The surroundings tell their own 
expressive tale of the condition of the people, among whom 
the Kindergarteners are veritable missionaries. In one of 
the Kindergartens near the river, for example, the super- 
visor informed me that the director and her assistants had 
provided many of the children with the clothes in which I 
saw them, and that the difl'erence in the children since the 
estabhshment of the Kindergartens was marvellous. I do 
not doubt it. The teachers spend the last week or two of 
vacation in going round to the houses, and helping the 
mothers to get the children ready for opening day ; and thus 
are able to exercise beneficial influence on the homes in 
other ways, besides caring for the children." In this Kinder- 
garten were about seventy children, under a director, a paid 
assistant, and two unpaid assistants or " novitiate teachers." 



S6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

While I was watching the " work " proceeding in its 
ordinary way, a pigeon flew through the open window, 
and appeared much frightened at finding itself in a Kinder- 
garten ; but the children went quietly on with their play- 
work. Presently the bird settled on a window-sill and 
allowed the director to catch it. The pupils were then 
gathered quickly and quietly round her, and joined in a 
conversation about the pigeon. It was evidently not the 
first time that the director had had a live bird or other 
animal for the subject of a lesson. It was surprising how 
quietly the pigeon took all the stroking and petting, even 
feeding out of the children's hands. This incident gave me 
a clearer insight into the work of that Kindergarten than all 
else I saw. The bird knew it was among friends, and the 
children talked and acted as though they were in sympathy 
with nature. After a short time spent in chatting and 
playing with the pigeon, it was allowed to fly up into a 
window, where it remained until I left. The teacher then 
proposed that as a bird had come to see them, they should 
have a bird song and game, which they did. 

I visited several coloured Kindergartens — that is, Kinder- 
gartens for negro children — and highly interesting they 
proved. The singing was particularly good, the negro 
aptitude for simple melody being, no doubt, accountable 
for this result. The directors and teachers, as in all 
coloured schools, had more or less negro blood. Fre- 
quently the trace was so slight, that outside the United 
States it would probably not be recognisable ; but so 
strong is the feeling there, that such would not be allowed 
to teach in a school for white children ! The coloured 
people have " equal rights of citizenship ; " they are as well 
provided with schools, which are as well built, as well 
furnished, and more liberally supplied with teachers ; but 
they must not attend the same schools as their white fellow- 
citizens. I was unable to detect any difference in the work 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 87 

of the two classes of Kindergartens. All are under one 
supervisor, and a liberal departure from custom has been 
made in allowing the coloured and white Kindergarteners 
to attend the same lectures on the method and practice of 
Frobel's system; and I saw a number of coloured teachers 
present to hear an address I was invited to give before 
several hundred Kindergarteners, on a comparison between 
an Infant School and a Kindergarten. 

Every Kindergarten is provided with a piano — it is 
an essential. They are sometimes the property of the 
school authorities, but more frequently are rented by the 
school at from two to four dollars a month. The practice 
of hiring out pianos appears to be much more frequent in 
the United States than in England, and they are much 
more frequently a part of the ordinary school furniture than 
in England. 

The Kindergartens of St. Louis are under the manage- 
ment of a supervisor, to whom I am indebted for very great 
assistance in thoroughly understanding the working of the 
system, the largest and most complete in the United States. 
Her time is spent in visiting the various schools, and in 
giving special preparation to the paid and unpaid assistants, 
who are learners. In this latter, she is assisted by one of the 
ablest directors, who receives an extra salary as normal 
instructor in programmes and occupations ; and unless ap- 
pearances are more deceptive than usual, a particularly wise 
selection has been made. 

The system of training has been arranged not on account 
of its perfection, but for reasons of economy. 

The average cost oi tuition per pupil in the public schools 
of the United States ranges from twelve to twenty dollars 
for the year of two hundred days. The cost of tuition in 
the St. Louis Kindergarten is given at six dollars. Sixty 
pupils entitle the director to a paid assistant, and one 
additional is appointed for every thirty pupils; but the 



88 Teaching in Three Continents. 

present degree of success would never have been attained if 
no other assistance had been given. As a matter of fact, an 
equal or greater number of unpaid assistants are always 
found in the Kindergartens. Many — indeed, I believe the 
majority — never follow teaching as a profession. Young 
women of at least seventeen years of age, who have had a 
good education, and are not dependent on their own efforts 
to earn a livelihood, enter the Kindergartens for the sake of 
the training they obtain. By their aid, the children are 
divided into classes of ten or fifteen for the gifts and occu- 
pations, joining under the trained teachers for the higher 
work. These voluntary assistants meet once or twice a 
week for instruction in the theory and symbolism of the 
system by the supervisor and her assistants. After one or 
two years of this work, they may enter for the first exami- 
nation, after passing which they are eligible for the position 
of paid assistants, but still have to continue the outside 
study. 

This system has been of great value to the young women 
of the town. Hundreds of young women have thus ob- 
tained education in those valuable matters relating to the 
early training of children. The culture and thought derived 
from the study and discussion of Frobel's ennobling 
teaching, the knowledge and experience of child nature and 
development, are such a peculiarly fitting and invaluable 
preparation for the high and responsible duties of wife and 
mother, that many young women gladly enter the Kinder- 
gartens who would not otherwise engage in teaching. " It 
is useless to expect social regeneration from persons who 
are not themselves regenerated," and the St. Louis authori- 
ties consider that in thus disseminating the principles of 
Frobel, they are adding very greatly to the value of the 
public school system. 

The plan I have just described has a very serious draw- 
back. No city has adopted Kindergarten so extensively as 



The New Education — Kindergarten. 89 

St. Louis : yet in no city I visited are the primary and 
grammar school teachers so opposed to it. It is a system 
within a system, and not a part of a comprehensive system. 
The Kindergartener thinks her mode of training perfect, 
and denounces primary methods which she does not under- 
stand. The primary teacher knows nothing of Kinder- 
garten except that " the children who have been in Kinder- 
garten are so inquisitive, won't sit still and listen, want to 
know the reason of everything, and don't know any more of 
reading and writing than those who come straight from 
home." Do they learn more quickly? I repeatedly asked; 
and the reply was generally a reluctant admission that they 
did in anything that required thought, but not in remember- 
ing. That they learned arithmetic more quickly was nearly 
always admitted. The object of the primary teacher's work 
is "to teach to read, write, and do sums." The Kinder- 
garten does not do that ; therefore, she says, the Kindergarten 
is not practical : it is a waste of money and time. These 
antagonistic forces are represented on the School Board, and 
there is a constant fear lest the enemies should prevail, and 
displace the Kindergarten from the school system. 

Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities, are avoiding this 
danger by a proper system of training their teachers. 
Before a normal student can take up the study of a speci- 
ality, she must graduate in the usual general course. The 
Principal of the Boston Normal School remarked during 
a chat on this subject : " I am becoming more and more 
convinced that each subject should be taught by special 
teachers with special fitness and training ; but the special 
training m.w%i first of all h^ based on general training. By 
this means the teacher will first see the relation of all the 
subjects to one another, and will not try to subordinate all 
others to his special study. Take Kindergarten teachers, 
for example. We give a general training in Kindergarten 
principles in our general course \ but the ordinary student 



9o Teaching in Three Continents. 

is not fit to be a Kindergartener. She knows enough of 
it to see its objects, tendencies, and methods, and this 
will show her whether she has a taste and fitness for it. If 
she has, her special training is based on her general. She 
no longer thinks the Kindergarten is the ideal and only 
mode of teaching, and does not look on all other teachers 
as enemies to her system. On the other hand, the primary 
teacher does not look on the Kindergarten as a fad of a 
few specialists. She gives it its place and the Kinder- 
garten her sympathy ; and is able to take advantage of the 
Kindergarten training of the child when it comes under 
her care." 

THE USE OF PICTURES, 

As a rule, the English Board schools are very much 
better provided with pictures, than the American, or even 
the Australian. Sometimes their gaudy colouring and 
imaginary character suggests that their educative value is 
not great; but, generally, their influence must be very 
beneficial, although in some cases appearances, supported 
by conversations with the teachers and talks with the child- 
ren, would indicate that they are not made to serve to 
the greatest possible extent the purpose for which they were 
bought. Here again the false principle of the Education 
Department is to blame. The standard is fixed. Reading, 
writing, arithmetic, must be taught. Inducement in the 
shape of additional money grant is held out for the teaching 
of grammar^ geography, object lessons, and so on. In 
the majority of cases the teacher would gain no extra credit 
— I do not refer to money, which is, in this case, a second- 
ary consideration — were he to use them to the best ad- 
vantage. The attitude of the authorities is wrong ; the 
blame is with them, not with the teachers. I think that 
the following quotation from a little work by Mary E. Burt, 
of Chicago, will apply in this case. 



The New Education — Pictures. 91 

" The most natural thing a man can do when he is 
trusted, is to try to rise to the level of the occasion. If 
he does not reach the standard, he will reach in the direc- 
tion of it. If he does not reach it the first time, he will 
reach more nearly to it the second. Every time the ideal 
is put before him he will reach a little closer to it. I do 
not mean the faith that pretends to believe, but ' keeps an 
eye open ' to make sure, as some teachers trust their pupils ; 
but the absolute faith that God has in man. The most 
natural thing a man can do w^hen he is suspected, is to 
lower his standard of action to meet that occasion. Let 
a child or man think that you suspect him of being capable 
of intentional wrong, and he is very likely soon to justify 
you in that opinion." 

I believe there are many School Boards with wise, broad- 
minded men controlling their affairs — men who, grasping 
the true scope of elementary education, seek to carry their 
ideal into practice, and use every means to make the schools 
serve their legitimate purpose. In their schools, earning 
the merit grant is considered a necessary evil, not an end. 
I also had the pleasure of meeting, outside such boards, 
many teachers with a nobleness of purpose, a depth of con- 
viction which no false legislation could affect. The good 
of the children is to them the first aim ; " results " a neces- 
sarily important but secondary consideration. 

Considering the unsurpassed character of American 
books and printing in general, and the elegance and com- 
fort of the school-rooms, I was continually surprised at 
not finding more pictures in the schools of the United 
States. 

In San Francisco, teachers pay considerable attention 
to providing pictures for composition and other exercises. 
For the former purpose the illustrated papers are largely 
utilised. In several schools were good pictures of Queen 
Victoria, the Emperor of Germany, Mr. Gladstone, Prince 



92 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Bismarck, and other famous personages, as well as of noted 
places, all of which had been the subjects of composition 
exercises. 

They are utilised in various ways. For example, the 
teacher takes a picture, say, of Prince Bismarck, and gives 
a biographical sketch, or tells a story about the subject of 
the picture, which the pupils reproduce. The same may 
be done with an ordinary sketch from life, an illustration of 
some scene in a foreign country, with or without a sketch 
of the picture. The practice thus given in some schools 
has produced a facility for sketching quite noteworthy, and 
shows clearly that drawing from copies is useful in its place. 
I found that from this exercise some had developed the 
power of illustrating a story told them with capital original 
sketches. I saw this kind of work in many schools, and 
had the pleasure of looking over the ordinary class exer- 
cises. Trained in this way, and with plenty of blackboard 
practice, the teachers often show a wonderful power of 
illustration with a few lines of chalk ; in fact, American 
teachers are more ready with chalk and blackboard than 
any I have met. 

Another exercise in frequent use in many parts of the 
United States, as well as in San Francisco, is, placing a 
picture before the pupils, and, without any explanation, 
ask them to describe it and put the story it tells into words. 
I consider this exercise a very valuable one when used in 
its proper place, and was more than once struck with the 
powers of observation and description developed by it. 

I am aware that it is not always wise to form conclu- 
sions from what one sees during an ordinary visit. Some 
teachers — I believe and hope they are few— consider that 
pictures and maps are best kept in portfolios, or rolled up, 
except when they are required for direct use. This usually 
means that when they are required for reference they are 
not available. So far as the maps are concerned, there 



The New Education — Pictures. 



93 



are two reasons for their not being displayed. In the first 
place, they are usually mounted on spring rollers, so that 
they fold out of sight in a neat case ; and this being fastened 
to the wall, the map is always available by pulling it down 
in the same way that a modern window- blind is unrolled. 
When no longer needed, it is allowed to wind itself up 
again. In the second place, every school-boy or girl has 
one of the profusely illustrated, and splendidly printed com- 
bined atlases and geographies, always ready for reference. 
Consequently wall-maps are comparatively rare. When 
a large map is required for class-teaching, the teacher's 
handiness with the chalk, and the large available black- 
board space, quickly provides one to illustrate just what 
is wanted. I noticed that coloured chalk was generally 
available for this and similar purposes. It was not unusual 
to find a well-drawn map of the particular State in which 
the school was situated, on the blackboard of a junior 
room. 

In the newer schools of Philadelphia I noticed that 
the rooms not unfrequently had very bold large maps 
illustrative of the special geography of the classes which 
occupied them, painted in oils on the walls. Sometimes 
these were imitation relief, and the effect was very good. 
Occasionally I found enthusiastic teachers with large maps 
in bold outline, on which they had fastened the products of 
the different countries in their proper place. One teacher, 
who must have gone to considerable trouble in thus pre- 
paring a map of the world, and, with her pupils, was reason- 
ably proud of their joint work, when she saw me look at it, 
apologised for Australia being so bare. She remarked with 
perfect truth that the geographies said very little about 
Australia, and she had no means of obtaining the products 
of the country. 

In England the schools appear to be usually well pro- 
vided with large bold prints illustrative of natural history 



94 Teaching in Three Continents. 

and geography. They are generally either German pro- 
ductions, or English editions of German pictures. Know- 
ing the fondness of the Americans for German ideas on 
education, I was almost as surprised that these prints 
were not more frequently seen in the schools of the United 
States as that pictures should be so little used. 

The schools of South Australia are usually well supplied 
with maps and diagrams by the Education Department ; 
and, in addition, the teachers are encouraged to add pic- 
tures. The Department has adopted a plan with respect to 
maps which is worthy of imitation. Geography is a neces- 
sary subject of study in all schools ; but the wish of the 
authorities is that the memory should be burdened with few 
names of places ; but that the teachers should endeavour to 
give their pupils as realistic an idea as possible of what the 
country is like, the kind of people who live there, what 
articles they produce, and so forth. In furtherance of this 
object, a series of wall maps have been prepared in the 
Government printing office, in which it has been the en- 
deavour to combine attractiveness of appearance with bold 
and striking outline. Only such details are inserted as it 
is necessary to teach. The course of instruction states, 
under the head " General Principles " : — 

"The object of the lessons in geography is to give the 
children a fair general knowledge of the world in which 
they live. 

"It is too often the custom to require the learning of a 
great many names of capes, rivers, mountains, etc., which 
are entirely devoid of general interest. Every teacher 
should lay it down as a fundamental rule never to teach the 
name of any place unless he is prepared to associate it with 
some fact of interest. 

" Every school will be supplied with (i) a compass, (2) a 
globe, (3) the requisite maps, (4) such diagrams as may be 
necessary. 



The New Education — Pictures. 95 

" Teachers are strongly recommended to form for their 
own use a small collection of pictures, which will be found of 
the greatest use in giving intelligent and lasting ideas as to 
the various parts of the world. Old numbers of the Graphic^ 
Illustrated London News^ and other periodicals, will be 
found useful, and Messrs. Cassell publish many excellent 
illustrated geographical w^orks." 

Relief Maps are most frequently seen in Paris, where the 
ordinary printed map is now out of date. When relief 
maps are not used, they have a process of representing the 
relief surface on the flat paper which is very effective. 

Definition maps are common in English schools, and 
some are very good representations of the features of land and 
sea. These are not nearly so frequently seen in the schools of 
the United States ; but, instead, the primary rooms in many 
cities are provided with large combination modelling trays and 
tables, about four feet by three feet, made of stout light 
wood, the tray being about three inches deep and Hned 
with zinc. It is so arranged that it can be used flat when 
the pupils stand round, or raised at a convenient angle for 
pupils to see from their places. Provided with a supply of 
fine, clean sand, this becomes a most useful aid to good 
teaching. In some cities these trays are found in every 
room, and the visitor not unfrequently finds a class or a sec- 
tion of a class standing round, all engaged in a united effort 
at making a relief map of Europe, the United States, or some 
other continent or country. This plan of modelling maps 
in sand is in use in South Australian schools, but the con- 
venient trays are absent. 

In London I came across a kind of relief definition map 
superior to everything else I have seen ; but its weight and 
expense will prevent its general use. It was a model in cast 
iron, about four feet square, on which every geographical 
definition could be represented. By pouring a bucket of 
water the sea was formed ; by a little arrangement with a 



96 Teaching in Three Continents. 

can of water placed at an elevation, and a thin rubber tube, 
the rivers were set running ; a candle underneath would 
make an active volcano, and a few grains of powder an 
eruption. 

DRAWING AND FORM-STUDY. 

It often occurred to me that the value of the drawing, 
which I inspected as an adjunct to manual training no less 
than as an item of the greatest educational value, was in 
very different — sometimes directly opposite — proportion to 
its " show value," often curiously called " artistic merit." 

The elementary schools of the chief centres of the 
United States are in drawing as distinctly in advance of 
those of England, as the average English school-girl is 
ahead of her American cousin in her skill in needlework. 

Drawing in most of the English public elementary 
schools appeared to me to be most unsatisfactory. Neither 
has a poor system been followed generally, nor a good 
one partially. When the subject was taught at all, it con- 
sisted, in the lower grades, of a little copying of figures 
composed of right lines on slates ; in the intermediate, a 
little freehand and mechanical copying on paper ; in the 
higher classes, the same, with a little drawing from simple 
models. It could not by any charity be considered an 
educational, much less an art course. A few School Boards, 
notably Birmingham, were to some extent exceptions. But 
as I believe drawing is to be made compulsory, and in other 
respects placed on entirely a new footi-ng, it would be 
manifestly useless to enter further into a discussion of the 
subject here, or to transcribe the notes of work I saw. If 
the gentlemen directing the Science and Art Department 
can see their way to do it, they have all the knowledge, and 
are not lacking in the desire, to make the teaching of 
drawing worthy of England. 



The Neiv Education — Form -Study. 97 

The progress made l)y the United States has been due, 
I believe, to the work initiated by Walter Smith, whose 
name I found to be honoured from the Mississippi east- 
ward. He was imported from South Kensington by the 
State of Massachusetts twenty years since, when it was de- 
termined to make drawing a fundamental feature in the 
education of the people. As sketched out by Mr. Smith, 
it was on English lines, especially valuable as leading to art 
education. It had features which did not suit the American 
mind; and Mr. Smith, able and strong, a master of his 
business, with conscious knowledge of his power, would not 
bend ; and, in consequence, met with much opposition. The 
unbending rigidity, akin to stubbornness, of the English- 
man, is not the surest or most direct means of attaining an 
end in America. The aphorism of Franklin — " He who 
will bend his head will save himself many a hard knock "— 
is largely followed by American public men everywhere. If 
it is not, they cease to be public men. The American likes 
to take the shortest course to the end he has in view ; but 
the direct road is not always the best, and if it has objec- 
tions, he will not wear himself in breaking them down, but 
will go round : but, to quote the Western expression, " he 
gets there all the same." When a proposal is met with oppo- 
sition, showing to his quick mind that he is doomed to 
defeat, he does not take the defeat : he withdraws — he goes 
round. As likely as not, it is not the reality, but what is 
imagined to be such, that people oppose. He "introduces 
his proposal in another form, and people are delighted; 
and instead of having his purpose defeated, and himself 
being relegated to the adornment of obscurity," he accom- 
plishes his end, and is rewarded with the plaudits of his 
former opponents. This is not always beneficial, or con- 
ducive to the best type of character ; neither is stubborn- 
ness, which is the opposite characteristic. 

Walter Smith's unbending adherence to the one course 

H 



98 Teaching in Three Continents. 

which he believed would answer the purpose for which he 
had been taken to America, and perhaps a not too pleasant 
way of asserting his convictions, cost him his health; but the 
work he did for his adopted country will never be lost. 
Such is the substance of what I heard of him in many 
places, and probably he did his work in the only way 
possible for him. That work has been modified very much, 
but formed the nucleus, out of which has been evolved 
various systems of form study and drawing for primary and 
grammar schools, of the highest educational value. 

Industrial drawing is a required study in all the schools 
of Massachusetts. 

{a) Because of its educational value. 

{b) Because of its industrial value. 

The State Board issues an excellent course of study, 
which includes modelling in clay, paper-folding, and kindred 
occupations. "Throughout the course, models and objects 
should be constantly used, for correct ideas of things can 
only come from observing the things themselves. The 
forms should be observed by both eyes and hands, and 
the knowledge thus gained should be spread in three ways 
— by Language, by Drawing, by Construction. Language 
means the expression of knowledge by words, either oral or 
written ; Drawing the expression of knowledge by lines, re- 
presenting the forms ; Construction the expression of know- 
ledge by forms : that is, by making the forms themselves." 

Several other States, as well as many cities, publish 
courses of study, proceeding on the same general principles. 
In very few if any progressive centres, is drawing taken as 
a subject of study in itself. It is almost invariably asso- 
ciated with form study. The introduction to the course of 
study adopted in 1888 by the State of New York very con- 
cisely expresses the views generally very elaborately enun- 
ciated by the various superintendents in discussing the 
subject. 



The New Education — Form-Study. 



99 



" The term Drawing very inadequately expresses the 
nature of the study it is desirable to have taught in the 
schools under the name. When the subject was first intro- 
duced into the schools, it was very properly called drawing, 
inasmuch as the work of the pupils consisted principally of 
drawing from printed copies; and the instruction was de- 
voted mainly to the training of the hand and eye in copying. 
As the study has developed, however, under the influence 
of educational methods, the character of the instruction and 
work of the pupils have entirely changed. 

"The study of form, as observed in models of type-forms 
and in objects, has taken the place of the study of printed 
copies j and the instruction has been broadened so as to 
include the cultivation of the observing powers by the study 
of things on the one hand, and the expressive powers, 
through drawing and language on the other ; Drawing, how- 
ever, beyond the elementary work, being the principal means 
used in expressing form-knowledge and its applications. 

"Thus it will be seen that Drawing is only a feature in 
the important study of form ; while in the application of 
form-knowledge, both in education and in practical life, it 
becomes the principal means for expressing thought. Hence 
the proper title for the study is form-study and drawing, 
and not drawing alone." 

The syllabus which was adopted by a conference of 
principals of normal schools and teachers of drawing, with 
the Hon. A. S. Draper, State Superintendent, is arranged in 
accordance with the ideas expressed above, and is divided 
into two parts. The first, or elementary part, is devoted to 
gaining a knowledge of the properties of forms, from models 
of type-forms, and from objects based on them. In this 
division it is intended that the aim shall be to develop 
the pupils' powers of observation, and to give training in 
the means of expressing thought in regard to form, through 
drawifig and language, 

H 2 



loo Teaching in Three Continents. 

In the second division, the study of form in objects is 
still continued ; but it is now the aim of the instruction to 
give expressibn to this form-knowledge, and to make 
application of it, mainly through drawing. In this division 
the course of study prepares broadly for general education, 
and for practical life. 

The plan is nearly always followed of placing the teach- 
ing of drawing of a town or city in the hands of a super- 
visor, with or without assistants, according to the size of the 
place. Under the direction of the supervisor, the work is 
carried out by the ordinary teachers. At stated times, 
generally one evening a week, or on Saturday mornings, 
the teachers have to meet at a central school to receive 
instruction in the work to be taken, and to discuss the 
progress being made. The supervisor spends his or her 
(most of the supervisors are ladies) time in going from 
school to school, giving lessons, and testing progress. The 
plan appears to work well, and was spoken of as thoroughly 
satisfactory by all the superintendents whom I questioned 
on the matter. 

Although the general and prevailing principles are the 
same, each supervisor has her own peculiar ideas ; conse- 
quently, there is considerable variety to be found in the 
work from different centres. In one, modelling in clay is 
prominent; in another, paper-folding and cutting, and 
modelling in cardboard, is highly valued. Some super- 
visors prefer books; others will not allow them to be placed 
in the hands of children, but use either separate sheets of 
paper, or drawing pads. In one thing all are agreed, viz., 
in the use of plain paper. / did not see slates being used 
for drawing anywhere in the United States, and only once 
did I see paper ruled in the small squares so common in 
Germany in the primary classes. In all the leading States 
— under every progressive supervisor, in fact, as far as my 
observation extended — wherever drawing is a special sub- 



The New Education — Form-Study. ioi 

ject, the old plan of commencing to draw straight lines is 
discarded. The first model studied is the sphere; and a 
circle, being its representation on paper, is the first figure 
drawn. 

I admitted while in the United States the educative 
value of the course of study taken; but I carefully re- 
frained from expressing an opinion as to its comparative 
value as dratving. After what I saw in Europe, I have now 
no hesitation in saying that the system I saw followed in 
Providence, Springfield, Chicago, St. Louis, and many 
other cities, is the best plan for elemejitary schools which 
I have seen. With regard to higher work, I as carefully 
wish it to be understood that I express no opinion any 
way. I would however remark that my observations appear 
to indicate that in individual cases — limited, however, by the 
personal influence of the teacher — other methods will pro- 
duce much better results as far as power of representation 
by drawing is concerned. 

The features of the plan of form-study and drawing, 
which appeared to me to be most in its favour as applicable 
to elementary schools, are : — 

1. It can be taught right through the schools by the 
ordinary teachers, under the guidance of a qualified 
supervisor. 

2. It is distinctly educational, being based on sound 
psychological principles. 

3. It does not stand as a subject by itself, but is in 
harmony with and can be taught in connection with other 
studies. 

4. It is attractive and popular with the pupils. 

5. It produced as good or better average results in 
freehand and mechanical drawing, as any other system I 
have seen in general operation. 

I believe that not a little of the success which has 
attended the progress and development of this system of 



T02 Teaching in Three Continents. 

form-study, and drawing, has been due to private business 
enterprise. In fact, it is sometimes difficult for an occasional 
observer to decide whether business or education is the 
chief aim. A httle inquiry will generally dispel any illu- 
sions ; but it is nevertheless true that in America, as well 
as in England, there are publishing houses (not those who 
appropriate English copyright) which, while ensuring finan- 
cial success, touch nothing which has not for its object the 
progress of the world. 

The Prang Educational Company, for instance, is a 
business concern, and on that account should, strictly, 
be excluded from these notes ; but it is also an educa- 
tional factor in the Progressive movement of education, 
and as such should be noticed. As a business concern, 
I presume the wish is to sell as much material as possible ; 
but in the ordinary way of business they would not do 
this, because it is only those who make true education 
their aim in the teaching of drawing, who will use their 
books. They have first of all to create a demand, by 
training teachers who understand the true principles of 
Progressive education, and, in consequence of the special 
nature of their training, consider that the Prang method 
fulfils these conditions. The system is called Form-Study 
and Drawing. Much of it would be termed by English 
teachers Kindergarten work, or hand and eye training. 
While it has a special aim in itself, it is interwoven with 
and cannot be separated from, the rest of the school work. 
In fact, it is part of a system of education which refuses to 
be marshalled into regiments and companies, each under its 
own leader, and capable of individual movement and action. 

In its working it is very elastic, allowing great play for 
the individuality of the teacher, or the peculiar conditions 
of the locality ; so that, although I found the principles 
everywhere the same, the practice was modified under each 
supervisor. 



The New Education — Form -Study. 103 

The Company has several systems of Instruction for 
teachers wishing to introduce a system of Form-Study and 
Drawing — of course hoping that those thus instructed will 
bring about a greater use of their material. One of the 
most successful plans is the " Prang Normal Drawing Class 
for Home Study and Instruction by Correspondence." The 
students, scattered all over the country, are supplied with 
the manuals of study, models, clay, &c., and each week 
have to work the required number of exercises and forward 
them to Boston for criticism, together with questions, and 
so forth. I saw a number of exercises as they came in, and 
others ready to go out again. They varied in quality, but 
generally were very good. The plan the Company prefer, 
however^ is for the student to attend the normal class, held 
in their rooms in Park Street, Boston. I had the pleasure 
of being present at several of the meetings, and as I had 
already seen much work under this or kindred systems in 
various cities, the meetings were more than usually inter- 
esting. The students work through the course of study, 
each one taking her turn as teacher, the remainder acting 
the part of pupils and performing all the exercises, 
answering each question in a complete sentence^ as they are 
taught to insist on their pupils doing, making each model 
in clay, fingering the wooden models, drawing on paper and 
blackboard, acting, in fact, as if they were children. This is 
found even more difficult than conducting the lesson ; but 
is insisted on by the director of the class, who believes that 
teachers will only properly understand the steps of the 
lessons and the difficulties of the children they will have to 
teach, by actually going through the process themselves, 
though of course much more quickly. 

At the close of each lesson a general discussion takes 
place. This discussion is a distinctive feature in American 
education. It is attempted in England and Australia, but 
not with the success that is reached in America. All know 



I04 Teaching in Three Continents. 

how difficult it is to get pupils to talk and question freely 
on a lesson ; and a corresponding difficulty is found in deal- 
ing with adult students. In the case of boys and girls, the 
influence of the old maxim, " Children should be seen and 
not heard," has not yet departed ; and consequently, in the 
older country boys and girls are to a greater extent expected 
to listen to the wise words of their teachers in respectful 
silence, and "understand these things when they grow 
older." One lady started a discussion by asking the 
question, which she had evidently thought over before : — 
*' Suppose a teacher who has mapped out her work, 
during a lesson finds that she will either have to assist 
the pupils more than she thinks is wise, by telling them 
what they should discover for themselves, or only give 
part of her lesson. Should she let the pupils take their time, 
or help them?" The result arrived at was: — "Let the 
child take his time; for if his mind be developed his capacity 
will increase, and the apparently lost time will be made up 
later ; whereas, if he be told, his power is weakened. A 
programme is for the help of a teacher, not to be his 
master." They did not take into consideration an in- 
spector and the dread of a " result examination," with its 
efforts at making pupils advance in an unbroken line, like a 
company of soldiers ! 

At one meeting the subject of Language Lessons in con- 
nection with Form-Study was discussed. I have referred 
elsewhere to the importance which is attached by American 
teachers to the need for cultivating the faculty of expressing 
one's ideas in suitable language, and its influence on the 
people at large. Every visitor notices the superior con- 
versational powers of the average American over the cor- 
responding Englishman. This is 7iot due to accident or 
climatic effect^ but is the result of careful training. The 
polished eloquence of the exceptional Englishman is un- 
equalled ; but how few really good speakers there are ! The 



The New Education — Form- Study. 105 

exceptional Englishman is, maybe, superior to the excep- 
tional American ; but the average American is a far better 
speaker than the average Englishman. As the aim of 
education is to do the best for the greatest number, the 
superiority of the Americans in this particular, granting the 
correctness of my observation, is proved ; and I do not 
think that any one who has attended a number of American 
meetings, either general or pohtical, and is able to compare 
them with similar assemblies in England, will be likely to 
disagree. This is not only my own experience, but that of 
many with whom I have compared notes. 

Mr. Clark, the manager of the Institute, in impressing 
upon the students the great importance of the Language 
Lesson, stated that American children entering school 
usually have some two hundred words at their command, 
although the number is sometimes as great as six hundred. 
The teachers should carefully note new words used by 
various children, and use these in the Language Lessons 
to record and impress them ; for when a pupil discovers a 
word its use is natural and spontaneous, and it is wise to 
give all the benefit. 

At another meeting the same subject came up for dis- 
cussion in another form. The subject under consideration 
was the mental development of children. Of course, the 
old methods of education came in for their usual share 
of condemnation ; and I must digress here to say that it 
is surely possible to inculcate good ideas of education, 
without absolutely condemning all other conceptions as 
more or less incorrect. That they are so considered 
should, contrariwise, rather teach us that the one just then 
advocated as infallible may possibly also be less perfect 
than it seems ! It is to some extent a matter of opinion 
whether " old educators seemed to have no definite ideas 
as to why they insisted on certain studies ; but hoped, 
like the man who fired at a flock of birds with a scattering 



io6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

gun on the chance that some might be hit, that in 
some unknown way the child's mind would be developed." 
I am, I hope justly, considered to be in favour of what is 
termed " the New Education," because I think that both 
methods and means of education must change with the 
continually changing conditions of men and nations. As 
with any statement of religious ethics, or of philosophy, so 
with the enunciation of the principles of education. They 
are true only for the time, condition of thought, and develop- 
ment of the people who make them ; and can only be rightly 
understood in their relation to the conditions under which 
they existed. But the wiser course is not to condemn the 
old system, under which the grand and great men in times 
past grew to be intellectual beacons, and by which we have 
grown to be what we are prone to consider ourselves — not 
only the latest, but the greatest and best development of 
civilisation ; but to devote our energies to preventing 
people from attempting to make them still serve under a 
new condition of things. Whether that condition is an 
improvement does not affect the argument. It is the 
only possible condition until a new one is brought about. 

However, having relieved himself and amused his 
hearers with his short tirade against the old, the pre- 
sident gave one of the nicest little expositions of our 
new idea of mental development which I have heard. It 
was not new, but splendidly put. I cannot reproduce it, 
as his use of the blackboard — one of the strong points 
of the American teacher — formed one of the most valuable 
features. Briefly, he argued that the brain receives its 
stimulus through the senses being aided by the secondary 
stimulating faculties — memory, imagination, and will ; and 
expresses itself chiefly by two agencies — the tongue and the 
hand. If information be poured into the brain, it soon 
becomes surfeited ; but set the faculties of expression to 
work, and a current naturally flows to replace the drain. 



The New Education — Form-Study. 107 

The teacher should therefore merely provide knowledge 
ready for assimilation, but place himself on the " expression 
side " of the child, and draw out ; because what is expressed 
through language or by the hand must enter by the senses, 
and be enriched by the secondary agencies — memory, 
imagination, and will. If mental activity is employed in 
giving out, there need be no fear but that the assimilating 
faculties will be suitably employed. 

A prominent feature of drawing, as taught in the schools 
of the United States, is the large amount of blackboard work. 
It is no uncommon sight to enter a room, and find all the 
pupils standing round the room drawing on the blackboard. 
This, of course, is only practicable where the custom is to 
have continuous boards round the room — a custom, by the 
way, which I consider worthy of imitation. This practice of 
blackboard drawing has an important bearing on the power 
of illustration possessed by American teachers. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NEW EDUCATION {Continued). 
Technical Education, etc. 

English Conceptions of Technical Education. — Sloyd. — Liverpool Experi- 
ment. — City and Guilds of London Institute Experiment. — Mr. Ricks' 
Scheme of Hand and Eye Training. — Dublin Experiment. — Manual 
Training in America, — Definition. — Who shall Teach it? — Account of 
Various Experiments. — New York City. — Washington, D.C. — Spring- 
field. — The Manual Training School. — Course of Study, St. Louis. — 
Public Free Manual Training Schools — Industrial Training in Paris. 
— Course of Study. 

Sewing.— Better in England and Australia than in United States. 

Cookery, — How Taught in London. — In United States.— Fittings of a 
School. — The Washington Experiment. 

People in England talk as freely of technical education 
as those in the United States do of manual training. If 
multitude of speech were associated with clearness of con- 
ception, I would omit this chapter, merely referring my 
reader to the next man he meets who " takes an interest 
in Education." 

Some of the conceptions of technical education pre- 
valent in England may be summarised : — 

1. " Technical education is the preparation of young 
people for some trade or industry." This is consistent and 
intelligible. Among those who hold this opinion are the 
supporters of the many excellent technical schools, of which 
those at Bradford, Manchester, Huddersfiekl, Stockport, 
and many others I visited, may be taken as examples, but 
of which I shall not further speak. 

2. Many use the term to mean a certain amount of 



The New Education — Manual. 



109 



science teaching and liandiwork in connection with ordinary 
schools ; but especially with secondary schools. To this 
class, too, belong those who desire the introduction of 
" technical education " into the public elementary schools, 
and the majority — although not the chief advocates — do 
so because of the influence they believe it will have on 
the industries of the country. In fact, it is apparently 
the exception to find an article written or a speech de- 
livered on the subject without some reference being made 
to the industrial progress of Germany in consequence of 
the attention she has paid to " technical education," and 
the absolute necessity of England taking up the subject 
vigorously, if she wishes to maintain her position as the 
premier manufacturing country of the world. I cannot 
help thinking that many of these would do well to con- 
sider, whether it is tool work or head work which has 
enabled Germany to take the position she has. I think 
not a little of her progress is due to the fact that, as 
a rule, she only teaches tool-work as a means of giving 
an all-round training, leaving the special avocation entirely 
to look after itself. The toy and lace making of South 
Germany do not affect my argument. It is not in 
these that she has affected England. There are not 
wanting many advocates who, while not forgetting the 
influence on industries, base their plea for the introduction 
of tool-work into schools entirely on educational con- 
siderations. 

3. There is a large class of people whose ideas of 
technical education are more limited, and who confine the 
meaning to special day or evening classes in the arts and 
sciences underlying manufactures, supplementary to appren- 
ticeship in mills or workshops. The German continuation 
school to a large extent forms the pattern on which these 
would establish their classes. To a considerable extent 
the technical schools in manufacturing towns answer this 



no Teaching in Three Continents. 

purpose ; and, perhaps, still more extensively is the end 
served by the evening classes held throughout England in 
connection with the Science and Art Department. 

4. In addition to these fairly clear conceptions of 
technical education, there is a large residuum of people 
who are ever ready to express an opinion on the subject ; 
but whose thoughts are as obscured as St. Paul's in that 
most novel of experiences for an Australian — a London fog. 
They have a hazy indefinable idea that it includes all that 
I have already indicated, and much besides ; that it will 
make mechanics and factory hands of the whole population, 
and that it is impracticable, meddling with " natural laws " 
of supply and demand, and altogether a dangerous thing, 
to be avoided as revolutionary. 

The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 defines : " Tech- 
nical instruction as instruction in the principles of science 
and art applicable to industries, and in the application of 
special branches of science and art to special industries 
and employments. It does not include teaching the prac- 
tice of any trade. Subject to this reservation, it is held 
to embrace all subjects for which grants are made by the 
Science and Art Department, and any other instruction 
which the School Board, Town Council, or other local 
authority which carries out the provision of the Act con- 
siders suitable to the circumstances of the district, with 
the sanction of the Science and Art Department." 

A separate definition is given of " Manual Instruction," 
which is held to include the use of tools, and modelling in 
clay, wood, or other material. 

The progress made in Manual Instruction in England 
has not been great ; but a number of very interesting ex- 
periments have been carried out under different names by 
various authorities ; but more particularly by enthusiastic 
and progressive teachers who have been to Sweden to study 
the system of Slojd, or Sloyd, at its head-quarters at Niias. 



The New Education — Manual. hi 

There are fifteen or more teachers under the London 
School Board who have been trained at Nails, and I had 
the pleasure of seeing some of the results of their enthusiasm 
in experimenting with classes in their particular schools. In 
1889 these teachers held a conference, and presented a 
report to the School Management Committee of the School 
Board for London, which is too lengthy for inclusion here, 
but it may with advantage be summarised. 

The aims are : — i. To instil a taste for, and love of work 
in general. 2. To inspire respect for rough, honest bodily 
labour. 3. To develop independence and self-reliance. 
4. To train to habits of order, exactness, cleanliness, and 
neatness. 5. To accustom to habits of attention, industry, 
and perseverance. 6. To train the eye in the sense of form. 
7. To promote the harmonious development of the physical 
powers. 8. To give general dexterity of hand. They dis- 
cuss the methods, deciding that the " eighty-five exercises " 
are carefully graded, form a complete analysis of the system, 
and contain all the principal manipulations used in wood- 
work. They consider that the system lends itself to an 
easy and practical application of drawing as taught; but 
think that the " models " will need revision before finally 
settling on a course for English schools. At the same 
time they think " it will be dangerous to alter the Niias 
course, which has taken so long to build up, excepting 
on the results of experiments made by those who are 
thoroughly alive to its educational principles." 

They think the pupils should be boys, beginning the 
work between the ages of ten and twelve years ; that the 
classes should not exceed twenty pupils to a teacher ; and 
that there should be at least one lesson of two hours each 
week. 

The professional teacher is considered the best in- 
structor, and that artizans as manual training instructors 
are failures, lacking aptitude for teaching. 



112 Teaching in Three Continents. 

I cannot even mention all the experiments I inquired 
into, deeming it preferable to speak in greater detail of one 
or two. The Liverpool branch of the National Association 
for Promoting Technical Instruction conducted an extensive 
experiment, in which a large number of teachers assisted. 
The exercises taken were wood-carving and fret-work, and 
the experiment was considered of sufficient range to permit 
of generalising from the results obtained. The leader in the 
matter was Professor Hele Shaw, of the Walker Engineering 
College, who is an enthusiastic advocate of the educational 
value of manual training. 

At the close of a lecture given before a large attendance 
of the members of the Liverpool Teachers' Guild, Professor 
Strong occupying the chair, it was resolved, on the motion 
of Mr. Shaw, that, accepting the definition of technical in- 
struction given in the Technical Instruction Act— 

" I. Technical instruction should not be given as part of 
the curriculum of elementary schools ; but that the teaching 
of science, and manual instruction (combined with cookery 
and laundry work for girls) should form part of the instruc- 
tion of all elementary schools. 

"2. That 'Kindergarten Work' should be introduced 
into all elementary schools. 

" 3. That Trade Schools should not be established at the 
expense of the State or municipality. 

" 4. That every facility should be offered for obtaining 
instruction of all kinds after ordinary school hours for the 
lowest fees ; and that boys and girls below a certain age 
should be encouraged by a judicious system of rewards to 
attend voluntary classes after leaving school." 

I have quoted these resolutions in full, because I 
consider that they express the views of a much wider 
constituency than the important guild which adopted 
them. 

An extensive experiment is in operation under the joint 



The New Educatiox — Manual. 113 

management of the City and Guilds of London Institute 
and the School Board for London, the former body finding 
the money, the latter the accommodation and pupils. Six 
centres have been fitted up, and the instruction placed 
under the direction of two trained masters, and two 
practical mechanics as assistants. The instructors were 
carefully selected, the teachers having a knowledge of 
tools as well as being fond of using them, the carpenters 
having apparently an aptitude for teaching. Selected boys 
from schools within a radius of about a mile from a centre, 
spend one morning or afternoon a week at the manual 
instruction room. 

I attended some of the classes, and was quite satisfied 
that if the lessons I saw given were fair specimens, the 
work is decidedly educational. On the walls of the work- 
rooms are hung German lithographic pictures of the most 
useful timber trees, and some excellent manual training 
diagrams, published by Messrs. Cassell & Company. Each 
class contains from twenty- four to thirty pupils, who are 
accommodated at large benches, six or more boys being at 
one bench. There is a set of smaller tools for each boy, 
and a few sets of larger tools for common use. 

The committee, in their syllabus, state as general 
principles : — i. The aim must be educational rather than 
industrial. 2. The scholars must be given an intelligent 
knowledge of the principles which underlie their work. 
3. Working drawings to scale of every exercise must be 
made. 4. All bench work must be done to exact 
measurement, and every piece of wood be correctly lined 
before being cut or planed. The simple instruments, try 
square, rule, and compass are used, and the drawings are 
made in isometric projection. 

In the Vittoria Place centre I watched a demonstration 
lesson on the "Bridle joint." The principle was first ex- 
plained by means of models, and a free use of the blackboard. 



114 Teaching in T^hree Continents. 

The way the demonstrator handled his subject proved him 
to be an adept in the art of teaching. When the boys 
understood the new principle involved in the new exercise, 
in its relation to what they had already done, he proved 
himself to be equally at home with his tools, and very 
quickly made the joint he had explained and drawn, the 
whole time keeping up a running series of comments and 
questions upon the work. Previous to his engagement by 
the joint committee, this teacher had been a carpenter and 
joiner, but had qualified himself for teaching under the 
Science and Art Department by attending evening classes. 
With a supply of such men, the question of manual instruc- 
tion would be solved. I saw other men teaching equally 
well, particularly at Brighton and Manchester. 

I think the latest, most complete, and most extensive 
experiment in manual instruction for the elementary schools 
has been conducted by Mr, George Ricks, B.Sc, the Senior 
Inspector under the London School Board. After con- 
ducting a number of experimental classes, he formulated a 
comprehensive scheme, or series of schemes, which have 
been published by Messrs. Cassell & Company in two 
handsome fully-illustrated volumes, under the title of 
" Hand and Eye Training." 

Mr. Ricks is well known as the author of a number of 
works on practical teaching, his methods being always 
educational. If the teacher will not go to the trouble to 
work out his own lessons, let him by all means have books 
in which the methods are sound. In his books, Mr. Ricks, 
leaving the more general discussion of the science of 
pedagogy for others, endeavours to show the teacher, 
— anxious to do more than earn a grant— how to put into 
practice the soundest of the principles theoretically dis- 
cussed by others. 

The following summary, taken from the Introduction 
to ''Hand and Eye Training," shows the scope of Mr. 



The New Educatiox — Manual, 115 

Ricks' scheme, which has been adopted by the Bristol 
and other School Boards, and is being introduced gradually, 
under his supervision, into all the London Board Schools. 

Summary of Scheme of Hand and Eye Training. 
By Mr. Geo. Ricks, B.Sc, 

Senior Inspector of Schools under the London School Board. (Taken 
from his work on the subject, published by Messrs Cassell & Co.) 

For Children from 7 to 10 Years of Age. 

1. Paper- P'olding, Cutting, and Mounting (First Series). 

2. Drawing, Cutting, and Mounting. 

3. Building with Kindergarten Bricks, Cubes, &c. , and Drawing the 

Plans and Elevations of structures built. 

4. Clay-Modelling. 

5. Drawing and Coloring. 

For Pupils from 10 to 14 Years. 

6. Drawing and Coloring to be continued. 

7. Clay-Modelling for those showing special aptitude. 

8. Paper-Folding, Cutting, Mounting ; Designing in Form and Color 

(Series II.). 

9. Drawing and Cutting Geometric Forms, &c. 

10. Modelling in Cardboard, &c. 

11. Bench- work in wood. 

Note. — It is not intended that all this should be taken in the same 
school ; but that one or two courses should be selected most suitable to 
special needs. 

I spent several very interesting days in the Dublin 
Schools. I cannot say that I learnt much likely to prove 
of value elsewhere, for what is suitable in one place is not so 
in another ; and the conditions under which the Irish teacher 
labours do not exist elsewhere. The schools of Dublin are 
worth visiting, if only to see the happy Irish nature show 
itself in school. The boys' department of the model prac- 
tising school of the National Training College consists of a 
very large room, with several class-rooms opening from 
I 2 



ii6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

it. The large room has seats in the middle and open spaces 
at each side, where the pupils stand round their teachers in 
groups. Each teacher stands with a long cane in his hand, 
and the noisy din of the school is frequently interrupted by 
the sound of the forcible contact between the shoulders of 
some boy and the cane. A boy makes a mistake, forgets 
his turn or does not pay attention, and down goes the cane. 
The utmost good-nature prevails ; a teacher soundly scolds 
and thrashes a boy one minute, and the next joins in the 
hearty laugh of the class at some outburst of the native wit 
of the boy who was thrashed. The elder boys have manual 
instruction in a roughly fitted- up shop in the playground. 
The class is conducted by an assistant master of the school, 
who has a taste for carpentry. The boys buy the wood 
and make what they choose ; or, as often happens, cut up 
the wood in attempts at making what they would like. 
They call it Slojd work, and " enjoy the time spent in the 
shop better than that in the playground." After what I saw, 
I should prefer to say they enjoy playing with tools better 
than at football. Of the educational value I will not ex- 
press an opinion. 

I spent an hour in the same shop watching the Training 
College students at their manual training work ; or, as it is 
called, the wood-working department. The men spend 
three hours a fortnight at the work. The classes consist of 
from eight to fourteen students, and are conducted by a 
practical mechanic. The object is to qualify teachers for 
doing any odd job about a school: "to mend an easel, 
solder a gutter, glaze a window, patch up a desk, fix up a 
hat-rack, put on a hinge, repair a roof, or any other repairs 
which may be needed about a school where a tradesman is 
not available." 

The male students of the Training College also have 
lessons in farming, and have to attend a course of practical 
instruction at the excellent model farms at Glasnevin, so 



The New Education — Manual. 117 

that they may give instruction in practical farming on the 
small farms found in connection with many of the Irish 
country schools. 

The female students, in the same way and for the same 
purpose, have instruction in dairy-work. These efforts at 
making the National Schools a means of raising the cha- 
racter of the agriculture of the country by introducing im- 
proved methods of farming and dairy- work are in the highest 
degree commendable, and \ think likely to be very bene- 
ficial. 

Besides dairy-work, the female students all take lessons 
in cookery, and the results of their experiments appear on 
the college table. 

Manual Training ifi America. 

The visitor to the United States hears comparatively 
little about technical education. When the terms technical 
and technological are used, it is in connection with advanced 
schools for mechanical engineering, architecture, chemistry, 
or other branches of applied science. The most noted of 
these is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 
Boston, which claims to have been the first of its kind to 
establish physical laboratories for the proper teaching of 
natural philosophy. It was the first to adopt the Russian 
system of training in practical mechanics^ from which have 
developed the Manual Training Schools so common in the 
United States. The nearest equivalent to these schools in 
England is the Technical School in Finsbury, under the 
City and Guilds of London Institute ; though this institu- 
tion differs very greatly from an American '' Manual Train- 
ing School." 

The term industrial school is used to designate schools 
with a most confusing variety of objects, from a reformatory 
to a trade school ; but to these I will not refer. 



ii8 Teaciung in Three Continents. 

" Technical Education," in the opinion of many, is to 
save the industries of England ; " Manual Training " is 
advocated in the United States with as much enthusiasm, 
and frequently with as little regard for the proper balance of 
a perfect education ; but from a different standpoint. " Put 
the whole boy to school " was a very happy expression made 
use of by Dr. Woodward, the apostle of the Manual Training 
movement, in seeking to have it recognised in its proper 
place as a part of a related whole, not as an appendix 
tacked on to the usual school course. But many talk as 
though " the whole boy" consisted of the manipulative powers 
of the hands. They cannot hold more than one idea at a 
time, and as Manual Training has been embraced, they can 
consider nothing else. I think, however, that the definition 
adopted by the New Jersey Committee on Manual Training, 
and which is due to Dr. N. Murray Butler, fairly expresses 
the idea of the great majority of advocates in the United 
States. ''''Manual Training is training in Thought Ex- 
pression by other means than gesture and verbal la?iguage, 
in such a carefully graded course of study as shall also pro- 
vide adequate training for the judgment and the executive 
faculty. This training will necessarily include drawing and 
constructive work ; but experience alone can determine by 
what special means this instruction may best be given." 

So far as the Secondary or High Schools are concerned, 
the second portion of the definition is now superfluous. It 
appears to be generally admitted by progressive men that 
the St. Louis, Toledo, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, and similar Manual Training Schools, solve 
the problem of what the Secondary School adapted to the 
requirements of the present day should be ; but discussion 
still continues in unabated vigour over the introduction of 
Manual Training into the Grammar and Intermediate 
Grades. The proposition that Manual Training is necessary 
in order to make the curriculum of the school complete, 



The New Education — Manual. 119 

appears to be admitted as proved, but of what it shall 
consist and who shall teach it, are still debatable points. 

Of course, there are teachers who are firmly anchored to 
the past; who, living in the midst of progress, are quite 
oblivious to it, and unconscious of the prevalence of new 
ideas. I occasionally found teachers, who, when asked 
whether any experiments in Manual Training were being 
tried in their schools, replied—" Oh, yes ; we have calis- 
thenics, and musical drill." On one occasion, a principal, 
after reading my card of introduction, and welcoming me 
with characteristic American urbanity, said — " I see you 
are particularly interested in Manual Training ; as there is 
a class at the work now, perhaps you w^ould like to see 
it." I accompanied him to the playground in the base- 
ment, and found a fine class of boys going through a series 
of dumb-bell and other physical exercises ! It is only fair 
to add that such teachers are exceptional, as was the 
English teacher who was surprised at finding a native-born 
Australian white. 

A man cannot teach what he does not know ; but 
because he knows, it does not follow that he can teach. 
Hence the difficulty in regard to Manual Training. A 
man may be a first-class mechanic, but the school has no 
use for him unless he be a skilful teacher. Unless the 
instructor can control boys, and understands the pedagogical 
principles governing the presentation of facts — or, what is 
the same thing, has that intuitive power possessed by a few 
people of presenting a fact in the precise way most in- 
telligible to the uninitiated — his ability to perform all 
operations with tools is useless in the school, where it is the 
making, not the thing to be made, which is to be the 
dominating idea. It is not the less true, that the mere 
understanding of the principles involved is not sufficient. 
Manual Training becomes an education, only in the hands 
of such teachers as the one I have spoken of in connection 



I20 Teach I XG in Three Continents. 

with the Vittoria Place experiment, when teaching abihty 
and executive skill are properly combined. If a choice has 
to be made, however, it is better to have a good teacher 
with poor manipulative power, than a good mechanic, but 
a bad teacher. 

After all, those who have more faith in Manual Train- 
ing, than in history and grammar, as a means of making 
education more complete than it has been, must not look to 
manual training, but to the teachers. Systems are merely 
the skeletons upon which the teacher builds the shapely, 
rounded forms of beauty ; and, breathing into them the 
breath of life, they become educative because he is in 
them. 

Did we but recognise it, pedagogy is the noblest of 
professions, and the teacher is the greatest of artists. The 
sculptor fashions marble, the teacher children's minds; the 
painter with consummate art transfers to canvas ideals of 
beaut)'' which become the treasures of nations, the shrines of 
art at which all worship; but the teacher, working on surface 
more delicate than photographer's plate, may imprint pictures 
of ideal manhood on noble souls, which may prove the 
regenerating influences of the world. The musician wakens 
strings to life, the teacher ideas : the one thrills the crowd, 
the other quietly sets thoughts vibrating which, thrilling 
through the human soul, shall roll on through the ascending 
ages in ever vv'idening circles, and time only can show the 
end, the good God their value. 

Such teachers may not be, frequently are not, in schools. 
A school hedged round with regulations, is no place for 
many men, and should not be for children. A man with 
vigour of purpose must not be hemmed in and hampered 
with regulations. To do so is as purposeless as to chain 
up a locomotive with the steam on — whatever happens, the 
desired result is not attained. This is good theory : at 
present not fully practicable. 



The New Educatiox — Manual. i2t 

I saw many good and successful experiments ; but there 
is a very great difference between an experiment, carried out 
by a competent enthusiastic conductor, and the ordinary 
conditions, where funds may be ill-supplied, and those with 
whom success or failure rests indifferent. It is only when 
an experiment is carried out on a sufficiently extensive scale, 
and under normal conditions, that it becomes valuable. I 
consider the Manual Instruction experiments in Washington 
and New York cities are most in accord with these con- 
ditions. 

In New York City a system of form-study and drawing 
similar to those I have described is in operation. To this 
— which includes clay- modelling, paper- folding, making 
models in paper and cardboard — is added a series of 
wood-working exercises, selected from different systems 
being tried elsewhere. The whole of the work is done 
in the school. A few workshops have been fitted up ; 
but I believe that there has been opposition to this, not 
only on account of the expense, but because it is sup- 
posed to partake of the nature of trade teaching. By 
the time this will be published, I understand the earlier 
stages will have been established throughout all the schools. 
With regard to the work itself, I will say little. What I saw 
was being dealt with — as, indeed, most of the work in New 
York appeared to be — in much too mechanical a manner \ 
it was the nearest approach to the English preparation for 
examination which I saw. New York city claims to have 
the most perfect system in the States. I will not dispute 
the superintendent's word ; but I have not always found that 
education and " system " go together, although there must 
be system in education. At all events, it is not wise on the 
part of a visitor to allow himself to form conclusions con- 
cerning the schools of the United States from what he sees 
in New York city. The teachers have not the freedom 
they have elsewhere. 



122 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The plan adopted in Washington, D.C., differs con- 
siderably from that of New York. Prang's system of form- 
study and drawing has been in operation for some years. 
This, of course, includes clay-modelling, paper-folding and 
cutting, and such exercises. Complementary to this, the 
authorities have instituted a series of wood-working exer- 
cises similar to those being tried by the City and Guilds 
of London Institute in conjunction with the School Board. 

The system of establishing "centres" has been adopted. 
The first vote was small, and was entirely spent in pro- 
viding tools and appliances. As in the case of the kitchens, 
any available rooms have been utilised for workshops. 
They are not always the best adapted to their purpose ; but 
as the work is said to succeed under present conditions, it 
would be the more certain to do so if it were taken in 
suitable rooms adjoining the schools. In two districts, all 
the pupils of the seventh and eighth grades take the work ; 
in the remaining portions of the city about seven-eighths 
of the senior grammar grades take manual training, it being 
at present voluntary. This I consider a strong argument, 
and worth more than the assurance of many principles. 
The classes are conducted by practical mechanics, and 
vary in size from twelve to twenty, according to the accom- 
modation. Each class has two hours' work, and the 
conductor takes three classes a day. When the manual 
training comes after or before school work, fifteen minutes 
are allowed for the pupils to pass from the shop to the 
schools, which are not in any case more than from half 
to two-thirds of a mile away. 

For the High School pupils special shops have been 
provided, one fitted with benches and wood-working tools^ 
and one with six forges, eight wood-turning lathes, three 
engine lathes, vices and tools complete, the motive power 
being provided by an eight horse-power engine. The first 
year High School pupils take wood-turning and pattern- 



The New Education — Manual. 123 

making (they have had simple wood-working in the 
grammar school). The second year pupils have forging 
and a little moulding, while the third year pupils take 
machine tool-work. 

I asked Dr. Lane, principal of the splendid High School, 
in which were some fifteen hundred pupils: "After the 
experience you have had with reference to this matter, and 
the comparisons you have been able to make between the 
lads who take manual work and those who do not, what 
effect, if any, do you consider the manual work has on the 
literary ? Does the fact of their having to be out of the 
school for so much time each week, engaged in an entire 
change of occupation, by distracting their attention and 
decreasing the time to be devoted to academic work, cause 
the latter to suffer ? " 

" No. I consider it is a decided help to them. They 
come back as though they have had so much physical 
exercise together with mental stimulus. The exercise does 
not tire — it refreshes. It is optional with pupils whether 
they take the manual course ; but if they elect to do so, 
they must continue, unless excused for some special reason. 
About forty per cent, of pupils take manual training." 

In a number of cities and towns shop-work, or manual 
instruction, has been introduced into the High Schools in 
much the same way as at Washington. The school com- 
mittee of Springfield, Massachusetts, for example, have incor- 
porated three years' course of manual work into their High 
School with excellent results. They are also experimenting 
upon a plan for placing tool-work into the Grammar grades. 
Their system of form-study and drawing does not differ 
from those described elsewhere ; in fact. Prang's books and 
models are used to some extent ; but the enthusiasm of 
the supervisor has made it one of the most complete 
I examined. The supervisor of drawing and director of 
manual training, with the aid of the superintendent and 



124 Teaching in Three Continents. 

several liberal citizens, are endeavouring to add to the 
form-study a graduated series of exercises in wood, suitable 
for all ages, and which can be introduced into all schools 
without fresh buildings, or any great outlay. The work I 
saw being done was interesting, but it is too early to offer 
an opinion as to present success. 

Very many towns are experimenting in the same way, 
and I have no doubt but that a visitor a few years hence 
will see tool- work an ordinary adjunct to every grammar 
school. 

The Manual Training School. 

I have spoken of the Kindergarten ; of the splendid 
systems of Form-Study and drawing which in a great 
measure correspond with several series of work in Mr. 
Ricks' excellent system of Hand and Eye Training ; of the 
efforts to add to this tool-work in the grammar grades, and 
of the addition of shop-work to an ordinary High School. 
It now remains to give a brief account of the Manual 
Training School proper. Had I dealt with the question 
historically, I should have had to discuss the Manual 
Training School after the Kindergarten, for in the evolution 
of the complete system of manual instruction the Kinder- 
garten came first, the Manual Training School second, and 
both have been pursuing their ever-widening spheres of use- 
ful work ; while in pedagogic circles, and to a certain extent 
among the public, the educational mind has been disturbed 
and otherwise beneficially excited over the problem how 
to connect the Kindergarten with the Manual Training 
School. 

The first Manual Training School was established 
through the liberality of several wealthy citizens of St. 
Louis, as a department of the Washington University of 
St. Louis. Dr. C. M. Woodward, the present director, is 



The New Education — Manual. 125 

responsible for the name, and for much of the success of 
the school. From the beginning all have insisted that 
the incorporation of workshops is purely for educational 
purposes, and does not tend more to prejudice a pupil 
to a mechanical occupation than the study of Latin does to 
make him a lawyer or doctor. *' Put the whole boy to 
school " is a saying of Dr. Woodward's which has assumed 
crystalline form, and is heard through the length and 
breadth of the United States. 

The school has an endowment of thirty thousand 
pounds, which provides scholarships for seventy pupils; 
in addition to which, there are upwards of two hundred 
who pay from thirteen to twenty-four pounds sterling a 
year for tuition. 

The motto of the school is, " The Cultured Mind^ the 
Skilful Hand ; " and it may be interesting to quote a few 
sentences from Dr. Woodward's account of the school in 
his work on Manual Training : — 

" The business man may be narrow, but so may the 
scholar ; and, in either case, the narrovvness results not so 
much from the necessities of the case as from the character 
of the man." 

" Hitherto, men who have cultivated their minds have 
neglected their hands, and those who have laboured with 
their hands have found no opportunity to cultivate their 
brains." 

" No attempt is made to cultivate dexterity at the 
expense of thought. An exercise with tools or books is 
valuable only in proportion to the demand it makes on 
the mind for intelligent, thoughtful work. In the school 
shops the stage of mechanical habit is never reached. 
The only habit actually acquired is that of thinking. No 
blow is struck, no line drawn, no motion regulated from 
muscular habit. Such a limited training cannot, of course, 
produce a high degree of manual skill." 



126 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Nevertheless, I saw some cart-loads of really accurate 
work done in the ordinary exercises. 

As a rule, pupils are at least fourteen years of age on 
admission, and must have graduated from a grammar school, 
or be able to pass an equivalent examination. The course 
of study extends over three years ; and, as it is fairly typical 
of very many schools which have been established on the 
model of the St. Louis School, I will insert an outline of the 
study. 

St. Louis Manual Training School. 
Course of Study. 

First Year. 

Algebra, to Equations. Arithmetic, completed. 

English Language, its Structure and Use. History of the United 

• States. 
Latin Grammar and Reader may be taken in place of English. 
American Classics. 

Zoology. Physical Geography. Botany. 

Drawing, Mechanical and Freehand, from objects. Penmanship. 
Tool-work— Joinery. Wood-carving. Wood-turning. 

Second Year. 

Algebra, through Quadratics and Radicals. Geometry begun. 

Chemistry. Experimental Work in the Chemical I aboratory. 

English Composition and Literature. Rhetoric. English History. 

Latin (Caesar) may be taken in place of Rhetoric and History. 

British Classics. 

Drawing — Line-shading, and Tinting, Development of Surfaces, Free- 
hand Detail Drawing, Isometric Projections. 

Tool-work — Forging : Drawing, Upsetting, Bending, Punching, Weld- 
ing, Tempering ; Pattern-making, Moulding, Casting with Plaster, 
Soldering, and Brazing, 

Third Year. 

Geometry continued through Plane and Solid ; Reviews in Mathematics, 

Mensuration. 
English Composition and Literature. 



The New Educatiox — Manual. 127 

Political Economy. General History. 

French or German may be taken in place of English and History, or in 
place of the Science Study. 

Physiology. Elements of Physics. Students who have taken Latin, 
and who intend to enter the Polytechnic School after completing 
the course in this School, will take History in the place of 
Physiolog)'. 

Book-keeping. 

Drawing — Brush-Shading, Geometrical Machine and Architectural 
Drawing. 

Tool-work — Metal work with hand and machine tools ; Filing, Chip- 
ping, Fitting, Turning, Drilling, Planing, Screw-cutting, &c. Ex- 
ecution of projects. 

THE DAILY PROGRAMME. 

The Daily Session begins at 9 a.m. and closes at 3.30 p.m., thirty 
minutes being allowed for lunch. Four hours per day are devoted to 
recitations, study, and drawing, and two hours are given to tool instruc- 
tion and shop work. 

Owing to the decided success of the St. Louis School, 
several others were estabhshed on the same Hnes and in the 
same way : that is, by private subscription. These schools, 
like the parent establishment, charged fees to all but those 
holding scholarships. The great fundamental principle of 
American education, however, is that it must be free ; and 
it only required to be thoroughly demonstrated that the 
Manual Training School was a requirement of the age, to 
cause several of the progressive School Boards to establish 
free Manual Training Schools as part of the public school 
system. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Toledo are ex- 
amples. These may be termed Manual Training High 
Schools. I have already shown how other Boards have 
dealt with the matter. 



Industrial Training in Paris. 

Although I have a quantity of material, it is not my 
intention to write more than a few lines on manual 



[28 Teachixg in Three Coxtinexts. 

instruction, or industrial training, in the schools of Paris. 
To do more than simply refer to the extensive nature of the 
work would require a volume to itself. Nowhere has so 
much been done towards a general introduction of tool- 
work into elementary schools ; and nowhere did I see such 
an abundance of excellent work. 

The object of the schools is to specially fit the pupils 
for particular callings. To this end different districts have 
their special trade schools, to which pupils may be trans- 
ferred after completing the elementary school course. For 
example, in the quarter of the city devoted to cabinet- 
making I visited an apprenticeship school where the literary 
work of the pupils was still further advanced; but most of 
the time was devoted to learning the trade of cabinet- 
maker. In other districts are numerous schools devoted to 
other trades. 

The following programme of Manual Training for the 
Primary Schools of Paris will indicate the comprehensive 
character of the work : — 

Special Equipment to cany otit Full Course : — 

1. Woodwork Shop. — Eight to 12 benches about 4 ft. 6 in. long, 
2 ft. 6 in. wide, and 30 to 34 inches high (each bench accommodates 
two boys) ; four turning lathes ; suitable tools. 

2. Workshop for Iron. — Eight to 12 vices, forge, anvil, and 
ordinary tools. 



The following is the programme worked out by the School authorities 
for Manual Training in Primary Schools : — 

Manual Exercises intended to develop the children's skill of hand. 

I. ELEMENTARY CLASS. 

In operation in nearly all the Schools, lVo7-k done in ordinary 

Class-rooms. 

[Seven and eight years old. One hour per day.] 

Elementary Exercises in Freehand Drawing, Symmetrical arrangement 

of Forms, Cutting out pieces of Colored Paper and applying 



The Nejf Educatiox — Manual. 129 

them upon Geometrical Forms, Exercises in Coloring, Cutting 
out Geometrical Forms in Cardboard, Representations of 
Geometrical Solids. All these exercises to be done first on 
squared and subsequently on plain paper. 

Small Basket Work. Arrangement of strips of Colored Paper : (i) In 
Interwoven Forms. (2) In plaited Patterns. 

Modelling ; Reproductions of Geometric Solids and Simple Object ^. 

II. INTERMEDIATE CLASS. 

Chiefly performed in Class-rooms. Not so general as I. 
[Nine and ten years old. One hour per day. ] 

Cutting out Cardboard Patterns, Construction of Regular Geometric 
Solids, Construction by the Pupils of Cardboard Models covered 
with Colored Drawings or Colored Paper. 

Small Basket Work ; Combination of Plaits ; Basket Making. 

Objects made of Wire ; Trellis or Netting ; Wire Chain Making. 

Combination of Iron and Wood : Cages. 

Modelling Simple Architectural Ornaments. 

Object Lessons : Principal Characteristics of Wood and the Common 
Metals. 

III. UPPER CLASS. 

In operatio7i in about one-third of the Boys' Primary Schools. 
[Eleven and twelve years old. Two hours per day.] 

Drawing and Modelling ; Continuation of the exercises in the preceding 
Class ; Repetition of the Ornaments previously executed, in the 
form of Sketches, with dimensions attached to them ; Drawing 
the requisite Sections for this purpose ; Reproducing the Sections 
as Measured Sketches ; Study of the various Tools used in work- 
ing Wood— Hammer, Mallet, Chisel, Gimlet, Centre-bit, Brace, 
Screwdriver, Compasses, Square, Marking-gauge, Saws of dif- 
ferent kinds, Jack-plane, Trying-plane, Smoothing-plane, Files 
and Rasps, Level. 

Theoretical and Practical Lessons in the above. 

Planing and Sawing Wood ; Construction of Simple Joints. 

Boxes Nailed together, or Jointed without Tacks. 

Wood Lathe ; Tools used in Turning ; Turning Simple Geometrical 
Forms. 

Study of the Tools used in Working Iron— Hammer, Chisel, Cutting- 
tool, Cold Chisel, Squares, Compass, Files, &c. 
J 



130 Teach I KG in Three Coxtinexts. 

Theoretical and Practical Lessons concerning them. 
Exercises in Filing, Smoothing, and Finishing Rough Forgings or 
Castings (Cubes, Polygonal Nuts). 

The Practical Work in the Shops in Primary Schools is to be followed 
by Gymnastic Exercises, in accordance with the Specialised Pro- 
gramme. 

Sewing. 

Sewing is better and more extensively taught in England 
than in America. Needlework is a compulsory subject 
throughout the country, being taught by the ordinary 
teachers. The same applies to the Australian public 
schools, where the sewing, like that of England, is, as a 
rule, of excellent character. 

Where sewing is taught in the United States it is usually 
of a much more elementary character, and is generally 
taught by special teachers. 

Much attention is paid to sewing in Australia, the in- 
struction being usually given by the regular teachers. It is 
a matter of opinion whether the work of the English or 
Australian girls is the more praiseworthy. 

Cookery in England. 

I consider that the teaching of cooking is much more 
general in England than in the United States. I know of 
no large town or city in the Union where all the girls or the 
higher grammar grades are taught ; but in the London 
Board Schools, all girls over eleven years of age, without 
regard to standard ; and all girls in Standard IV. and up- 
wards, who are ten years of age, are required to attend each 
year at least twenty out of a course of twenty-two lessons 
in practical cookery at one of the centres. The plan 
followed is to build cookery class-rooms, technically called 
" Centres/' in the playgrounds of suitable Schools, in which 



The New Education — Cookery. 131 

pupils from all Schools within a convenient distance from 
the " Centre " may receive instruction. There are now 
nearly seventy centres, while others are in course of con- 
struction. 

A "Centre" consists of (i) a stepped class-room, about 
twenty-one feet by eighteen feet, containing a demonstration 
counter, a gas-stove, a kitchener, an open-range stove, a 
dresser, and necessary appliances for teaching plain cookery; 
(2) a scullery j (3) a cloak-room; (4) a lavatory. A class 
consists of thirty pupils. The work is carried on by 
three superintendents, and fifty-eight instructors. Four 
courses of lessons are given during the year. Children who 
do not attend Board Schools are allowed to attend the 
classes on payment of four shillings for a course of twenty- 
two lessons. Nearly twenty-four thousand pupils receive 
instruction in a year. The dishes made are sold to teachers, 
and children for lunch. 

The fittings of the centres are, in common with the 
school fittings in England, plain and strong, with little at- 
tempt at elegance. [The education of the perceptions of 
the beautiful is much neglected in England. Strength and 
durability are all very well, but beauty should not be neg- 
lected. The Frenchman and Italian cannot help being 
more artistic : he is surrounded by forms of beauty.] 

In Liverpool, each school has a room provided with a 
gas-stove, a kitchen-range, and a dresser with appliances, 
and the instructor visits from one school to another. 

Cookery in the United States. 

Where cooking is taught to pupils of the public schools 
of the United States, the cookery schools are usually fitted 
up with characteristic provision for convenience and comfort. 
One lesson taught — and there is no doubt but that it is well 
taught — is that a kitchen need not be an ugly place. In 
J 2 



132 Teaching in Three Continents. 

no city or town I visited did I find the subject taught on a 
comprehensive scale, as in London, Liverpool, and other 
English cities. More is taught in a superior manner, to a 
selected number of pupils. Li a few towns — Washington, 
for example — it is taken by the majority of the girls in the 
two upper grades of the grammar school. In Philadelphia 
I only found one cookery school — a very elaborate one — in 
which some two hundred pupils, selected from the grammar 
schools near, receive lessons. A school of six hundred 
pupils will send twenty pupils, those being chosen who can 
best afford time from other work. This has proved so suc- 
cessful that it is intended to make the teaching general, and 
no doubt the thoroughness which has characterised the rest 
of Superintendent MacAlister's work will be applied to this 
subject. All the normal students have had lessons in 
cooking for some years past. 

In fitting up a cookery school, provision is nearly always 
made for each pupil, or, failing that, for every two pupils 
to have a small gas-stove, on which all operations involving 
only boiling, frying, and stewing can be performed. The 
classes, I believe, never exceed twenty, and I only found 
that number once. Sixteen is the usual number, and two 
are always occupied as " kitchen-maids for the day," to 
wash, scour, scrub, and generally do the work which, in the 
London "centres," is done by paid help. The position of 
" kitchen-maid " is a popular one \ the girls are always ready 
to take their turns, and the tidy and the slovenly house- 
keeper foreshadows herself in her work on these occasions. 
The teachers were fairly unanimous in the opinion that 
fourteen pupils were as many as could be properly looked 
after in practical work. In this they agree with English 
teachers of the subject ; for although the classes in London 
consist of thirty pupils, the work is so arranged that only 
half that number do practical work at once. The order of 
procedure was stated to be : — First, a demonstration by the 



The New Education — Cookery. 133 

teacher; second, one-half of the class take notes, while the 
other half have forty minutes' practice ; third, the sections 
change places. 

A similar plan is followed in New York city ; but in 
other places the classes are kept down to the number to 
be accommodated at practice work. Two arrangements of 
demonstration tables are used. The first consists of a long 
horse-shoe-shaped counter, with fourteen or sixteen gas- 
stoves, and places for the same number of sets of kneading 
and mixing boards and necessary appliances. The teacher's 
table is placed between the " heels " of the counter. The 
cooking-range for general work is placed at the side of the 
room, round which are placed the dressers, with such utensils 
as are only occasionally used, supplies, and so forth. A 
cabinet of specimens of the common articles of food and 
special articles used in cooking is not un frequently included 
among the appliances. The plan most preferred is to have 
a number of small tables to accommodate two or four 
pupils, instead of the long counter; otherwise, the fittings 
are the same. 

In Washington, D.C., the plan of establishing "centres" 
has been adopted, and about five-sixths of the seventh and 
eighth grade girls of the grammar schools, and the majority 
of the high school girls, take the lessons. The following 
syllabus of the work for the grammar schools will illustrate 
the mode of dealing with the subject generally followed 
in the United States : — 

Course in Cooking of the Washington (D.C.) Schools. 

First Year {Seventh Grade). 

Boiling: A. — Talk about Cooking, to discover what it is, how it affects 
food materials, and what is needful for Cooking ; heat— natural 
and artificial ; fuel — wood, charcoal, coal, gas ; give directions for 
making a fire and make one. 

Teach boiling by means of experiments : [a) Heat a cup of 



134 Teaching in Three Continents. 

water, noting the change in temperature from time to time ; 
note simmering and boiling, {b) Compare, by boiling, fresh 
and salt water with respect to density ; experiment with eggs 
and blocks of wood ; discover that it takes longer to boil salt 
water than it does to boil fresh water, (r) Put a piece of 
fresh meat into boiling water for a short time ; note the 
result to meat and water ; cut the meat and note the result ; 
show the effect to meat and water of cold water on meat 
(this requires some time) ; cut the meat and note the result ; 
boil the water, {d) Break an egg into boiling water and 
another into cold water ; note the results ; boil the cold 
water with the egg ; draw inferences ; hot water hardens 
albumen ; to retain the nutriment in the article boiled, put 
the article into boiling water and boil ; to have nutriment 
mix with the water, put the article into cold water and boil. 
{e) Make beef tea ; have the meat prepared for the first 
class, after which let each class prepare meat for the succeed- 
ing one. 
Boil meat to prepare the same for food. Boil meat for broth. 
Make jellied soup stock. Teach which parts of meat (beef, 
mutton, and lamb) are used for soups. Show economy of 
making stock. Teach the pupils how to distinguish between 
fresh and stale meats (appearance, smell, &c.). Poach eggs. 
B. — Experiment with salted and smoked meats : Put salted meat 
into cold water ; then show that the water is salty by tast- 
ing it and by testing its density. Whence comes the salt, 
what it is, where found, how prepared for market. 
C. — Experiment with starch and flour : {a) Cut a potato into 
thin slices and soak it in cold water. Pour off the water ; 
show that starch is a fine powder found in grains and vege- 
tables ; show starch cells in potato — microscope, {b) Pour 
cold water over some starch, mix, and let it stand for a short 
time ; stir again and pour on boiling water ; stir and note 
the result, {c) Pour boiling water over dry starch ; stir and 
note the result, (c/) Make like experiments with flour ; 
draw conclusions. ((') Dip a potato into boiling water ; 
note the result. (/) Pour boiling water over oatmeal ; note 
the result ; draw conclusion. 
Make Blanc Mange. Corn-starch ; from what and how obtained, 
how prepared, substitutes. Make a Roux ; plain, egg, and 
caper sauces. Boil rice and potatoes and mash ; boil beets, 
onions, and squash. Give directions for preparing and 



The New Education — Cookery. 



135 



cooking other vegetables. Make either vegetable soup or 
celery puree. Boil oatmeal (cracked wheat, cerealine). 
Boil rice and make rice custard. Boil coffee and cocoa, 
steep tea. Coffee, cocoa, tea ; from what and how obtained ; 
properties and value of each. 
D. — Utensils used in boiling. An intelligent study of the 
materials from which the utensils are made. 

Stewing. — Experiment with tough meat and vegetable acids, such as 
lemon-juice and vinegar. Compare tender and tough meat before 
and after soaking in the acid. Show where in the animal tough 
pieces of meat are found. Explain why they contain so much 
nutriment, and show their value as food. Make a beef stew. 
Make an Irish stew without dumplings. Braise a calfs heart, or 
smother a piece of beef. Haricot mutton. Stew fruit (apples, 
prunes, &c.). Make *' bubble and squeak." Pepper, butter, 
substitute, from what and how obtained ; use and value in cooking. 

Broiling. — Broil a steak (beef or veal) : (a) Compare results obtained 
with those obtained by putting meat into boiling water, (b) Names 
and positions of best steaks. Broil chops, mutton, lamb, or pork : 
{a) Positions of chops, {b) Lard and oleomargarine ; from what 
and how made ; use, value, how to select different kinds of meat 
by appearance ; toast bread ; utensils used in broiling. 

Baking. — Experiment with yeast, soda, cream of tartar, sour milk, and 
baking powder : (a) Mix soda and cream of tartar with cold water ; 
show the presence of carbonic acid gas (lighted taper), {b) Pour 
water over baking powder ; show the presence of gas. (r) Mix 
soda with sour milk ; show the presence of gas and that the milk is 
sweet, {d) Mix baking powder or soda and cream of tartar with 
flour ; moisten and make a dough ; put one-half into a hot oven 
immediately ; allow the other half to remain exposed to the air for 
a short time, then put it into the oven ; note the difference ; cause 
of difference ; draw conclusions, {e) Make yeast ; talk about the 
yeast plant or germ ; from what and how obtained ; proper temper- 
ature necessary to the growth ; what is caused by the growing ; 
fermentation — microscope ; show presence of carbonic acid gas in 
yeast ; mix yeast with a little flour and note the result. 

Make white bread and rolls with potato yeast : {a) Kneading, 
length of time, motion, &c. {b) Compressed yeast, (r) 
Flour ; from what and how obtained ; kinds ; properties 
and value of each ; processes ; make biscuits (baking 



n,6 Teaching in Three Continents. 



powder) ; make muffins (soda and cream of tartar) ; make 
corn-bread (soda and sour milk) ; make Graham gems. 
Roast meat : (a) Compare the appearance of roast meat with 
boiled meat, {h) Best pieces for roasting, {c) Basting, {d) 
Solid and rolled roasts. Give, incidentally, the arrange- 
ment of oven dampers ; kind of fire necessary for baking, 
and proper temperature of the oven. 

Second Year [Eighth Grade). 

Boiling. — Review facts learned about boiling, and obtain a definition. 
Boil mutton : {a) for the broth, {b) for the meat ; make caper sauce. 
Boil fish ; make egg sauce. [Note.— Give directions for selecting 
and cleaning fish.] Raising, slaughtering of animals, and packing 
of meat ; ineans of preserving ; principal cities for this industry ; 
markets. Boil corned beef and cabbage ; boil cauliflower ; make 
egg sauce ; make apple dumplings and sugar sauce ; make roly- 
poly pudding and sauce ; make soft custard ; make salad dressing ; 
make potato salad. 

Stewing : Oysters : [a) stewed, [b) scalloped ; chowder ; make a 
fricasse of beef, or stew beef with carrots ; make a white stew and a 
pot-pie. 

Broiling : Broil a shad, a herring, or any other fresh fish. Broil a 
salted mackerel, or any other salted fish. Broil a smoked fish. 
Broil a slice of ham. Broil oysters. 

Baking. — Review facts learned about carbonic acid gas, fermentation, 
and heat for baking ; make white bread, Graham bread, and brown 
bread ; stuff and bake a fish. 

Make cake : [a) Cookies : Spices ; from where and how ob- 
tained ; their properties and use in cooking, {b) Ginger 
snaps, [c) Dover cake. (Note. — Citron ; from what and 
how made.) (</) Sponge cake, {e) Jelly cake. Make 
pies : {a) Pie paste, [b) Apple pie (peach, rhubarb, &c.). 
\c) Lemon pie (custard, &c.). Make puddings : [a) Bread. 
(/>) Cottage pudding, [c) Sago, rice, or tapioca ; Sago, 
tapioca, rice ; from what and how obtained ; how prepared 
for market : bake apples and potatoes. 

Frying. — Experiment with fat : [a) Show that pure fat will not boil. 
[b) Show that fat containing water boils, {c) Show the proper 



The Sew Education — Cookery. 137 

temperature of fat for cooking by putting pieces of dough or a little 
of beaten egg into it at different times (before it is hot enough, 
when hot enough, and when burning) ; note the difference and 
draw conclusions. Show the economy in the use of eggs in kettle- 
frying ; scramble eggs ; make an omelet ; make griddle-cakes ; 
make fritters, (a) Batter, {b) Salsify, parsnip, corn, &c. (f) 
Apple, oyster, clam, &c. ; make doughnuts (raised by yeast) ; 
make crullers (raised by baking powder). 

It is worthy of remark — ^as a coincidence, if nothing 
more — that in Washington, where cookery lessons are given 
to a larger proportion of pupils than in any other city 
1 visited (unless it be New York), the appliances and 
accommodation in general are the least expensive and 
elaborate. The share of the first appropriation of five 
thousand dollars for manual training and cookery was not, 
as is too frequently the case, spent in building one elaborate 
school, but in fitting up ten centres in any suitable rooms 
which were available, or could be hired. The accommoda- 
tion in several of the centres consists of two rooms in a 
cottage. In one are placed the cooking range and other 
appliances for practical work ; in the other a large mixing 
table, consisting of a movable top resting on trestles. 

Each teacher conducts three classes a day, each class 
varying from fourteen to twenty, so that a teacher gives 
instruction to from two hundred and seventy to three 
hundred pupils a week. 

These centres were fitted up at a cost of from two 
hundred and fifty dollars each; and, for children of moderate 
means, appear better suited for their purpose than the more 
elaborate kitchens. The work being done, as in other 
cities, was essentially practical, and the cooking of a plain 
and inexpensive character, though not the less good on 
that account ; but the children in the Washington schools 
had to work with precisely the same appliances as they 
would have at home. 



138 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The successful introduction of cookery into the Washing- 
ton schools was due to the benevolence of a lady who was 
impressed with its importance, and who established a school 
for teachers and such pupils as could attend out of school 
hours. She could not take more than a small proportion 
of those who wished to attend ; but she proved the prac- 
ticability of teaching the subject, and providing teachers who 
could take charge of it ; these being first, teachers ; and 
secondly, cookery demonstrators. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE NEW EDUCATION {continued). 
Science Teaching. 

General Remarks. — Official Science Teaching disappointing. — Science 
Teaching in England.— Science Teaching in the States. — Science 
Teaching under the English School Boards. — Mechanics. — Methods of 
Instruction in Liverpool. — In American Schools. — St. Louis. — Middle- 
town. — Boston. — New York College. — South Australia. — Other 
Australian Colonies. 

In Chapter XII. will be found several accounts of genuine 
science teaching carried on out of school hours by enthu- 
siasts, for the love of the subject. Of course, teachers 
cannot separate such teaching from their regular school 
work ; but here I wish to confine myself to what is done 
in the ordinary course of the day's programme, as an in- 
tegral part of a regular course of study. 

It was the desire to acquaint myself fully with what was 
being done towards the general introduction of Science 
Teaching and Manual Training into elementary schools, 
which chiefly prompted me to take the present trip round 
the world. I have for some years advocated the necessity 
for greater attention being paid to the study of science ; but 
always insisted that m the elementary school there should be 
no attempt made to associate Science with Examinations. 

The nature of my advocacy may be gathered from the 
following quotation from a paper contributed to the 
Education Gazette five years since : — 

" We should train the senses and deductive powers of the mind by a 
practical, systematic, but, at the same time, essentially elementary 



I40 Teaching in Three Continents. 

study of natural science. Nothing need be said to prove the value of 
science in daily life. Here a little chemistry is useful ; there physics 
proves of service ; at one time physiology is required ; at another, some 
knowledge of natural history is of immense advantage. 

"At first, indeed, one is almost frightened at the mass of informa- 
tion apparently requisite ; but if we look into the matter carefully, we 
find that in our daily life only the fundamental facts and the simplest 
principles are necessary. Common salt need not be called sodic 
chloride. 

" I think something may be done now by substituting regular courses 
of science lessons of the character indicated, instead of 'special lessons.' 
vSome teachers do this with great success. Others, just as anxious to 
benefit the children, give highly interesting experimental lessons on 
chemistry and physics ; but with questionable success so far as scientific 
training is concerned. The wonder of the children is excited rather 
than their faculties developed. The want of success may be due to the 
lessons not being simple enough, and in consequence breaking the 
cardinal law of science — 'proceed from the known to the unknown.' 

" Any branch of science (chemistry, physiology, natural history, or 
geology) might be taken; but the manner of f caching, and not imparting 
a technical knowledge of the science, should be the chief aim in all the 
lessons ; or, stated in another way, give ideas and develop reason, not 
teach facts. 

" By natural history is not meant detached lessons on animals, 
plants, and insects (these, of course, are included); but general ideas of 
the animal and vegetable kingdoms ; their chief divisions and why 
divided ; their points of semblance and contrast, mutual interdependence, 
&c. The subject is a most fascinating one to children, and can be made 
essentially practical, by calling in the aid of such examples as are to be 
found everywhere. By fastening a bit of muslin over a pickle bottle 
half full of water with a number of eggs and larv?e of the mosquito, 
means may be provided for illustrating its threefold life, and the 
impromptu aquarium will be a source of interest for weeks." 

Since this was written, courses of science lessons have 
been added to the curriculum of the South Australian 
schools. 

In so far as " official " science teaching is concerned, my 
inquiries have been very disappointing. By official teach- 
ing, I mean that which is undertaken in obedience to the 



The New Ed re at/ox — Scjence. 141 

requirements of an official course of study. In the first 
place, much less progress has been made towards the 
systematic introduction of the subject into schools than I 
had expected ; and in the second place, where it has been 
attempted, the results are far from satisfactory. This is, of 
course, nothing more than might be expected. When the 
feeling of a country becomes so strongly in favour of an 
addition to the school course, the department having control 
of education formulates its plans, devises a long series of 
rules whereby the new machinery is to be fixed in the 
education — or rather the teaching mill — and, amid the 
plaudits of the advocates, sets it going. The instruction 
factory having been got into working order, it becomes 
necessary to test its work to see whether value is being 
obtained for money expended. What article is being 
produced ? In this there is frequently displayed a maturity 
of judgment and soundness of reason fully equal to that of 
the child, who three times a week pulls up the plant from 
his garden to see whether it is growing. 

The ''practical" members of School Boards, and the 
unpractical officers, frequently cannot see the difference 
between hiring a man to build a wall, and hiring one to 
educate a child. In the one case, at the end of a given 
time a calculation can be made of the number of hours' 
work, the quantity of bricks, Hme, sand, and so forth used ; 
and with tape and rule a few minutes will suffice to tell 
how much wall has been built ; and an inspection will show 
the quality of the work, which, if satisfactory, entitles the 
man to his wages. In the other case, the inspector calcu- 
lates how many lessons have been given, what subjects have 
been dealt with, what facts should have been learned, what 
words will best convey the full signification of a fact, in 
what order the facts should lie in the pupil's mind ; and then 
proceeds with his absurd "test" to fiml out whether science 
has been taught. 



142 Teaching in Three Continents. 

I am strongly of opinion that in fully three-fourths of 
the American schools in which I saw so-called science being 
taught, the pupils were, to a large extent, being simply 
loaded with indigestible facts of science, instead of being 
educated through it. That the lessons are frequently 
"experimental" makes litUe difference. The process may 
be likened to being told the length, breadth, height, weight, 
quantity, and kind of materials used in a cake made by 
someone else, instead of having all the fun of weighing and 
measuring the ingredients, mixing, baking, and then sharing 
with friends the resultant dainty. The first process is not 
without benefit, and is, probably, an improvement on the 
old grind at classics. I consider this proved by the fact 
that pupils like the lessons, which is more than can be said 
of their Latin. The memory is exercised as much, the 
reasoning powers more, while the experiments performed 
by the demonstrator at least excite wonder and admiration, 
which may lead to useful results later. 

If possible, the case is still worse in England, where 
success depends on the number of pupils who can pass an 
examination and earn the special grant. I know that the 
one can be done, while the other is not left undone ; but it 
is not too much to say that the two ends are to a very great 
extent opposed to each other. The grant must be earned, 
or the opportunity of teaching at all is lost ; therefore it is 
made the chief end in view, and education suffers. A man 
tried on a plant the experiment of finding how little water 
he need give it to keep it alive. He was astonished to find 
that it would exist almost without his aid, by drawing its 
supply from unconscious sources, and rashly asserted that 
water was unnecessary ; until he saw one of the same species 
planted at the same time, but properly nourished. It was 
with difficulty he recognised that they were the same. It is 
not, how little is necessary to prevent death ; but how much 
to ensure the most vigorous life. 



The New Education — Science. 143 

To this generally adverse criticism there is a reverse. 
There are numbers of schools, and a few systems of schools, 
where the controlling spirit is an enthusiast, who imparts his 
spirit to teachers and pupils, until the subject is rather 
instilled than taught, rather breathed than learned. Such 
teaching is never undertaken for the purpose of preparation 
for examination; not but that it would serve that end better 
than the method usually followed, but because the scope of 
work required for an ordinary examination is altogether too 
great to be properly learned in the time allowed for it. If 
science is to be taken in elementary schools, it must be for 
its training. The practical utility is so great, that this may 
well be allowed to take care of itself. The value of the 
teaching is proportionate to the degree in which an intimate 
knowledge of the details of the subject itself is subordinate 
to a grasp of the general principles. 

It must not be understood that I underrate the value 
of teaching chemistry, physics, physiology, or any other 
branch of this great subject, even as I saw it being carried 
on ; but rather that a very poor use is usually made of time 
and means. A method which may be good in a Univer- 
sity, where the professor is dealing with men whose age and 
training should be a guarantee of some degree of maturity 
of mind, may be very unsatisfactory when adopted for 
boys and girls. This, and the fact that far too much is 
attempted, are the chief causes of lack of success. In 
response to the great outcry for science in schools, 
laboratories have been fitted up and much money spent 
in apparatus, to the material benefit of the manufac- 
turers and dealers. The pupils have perhaps learned a 
number of hard names, and seen a variety of pretty experi- 
ments performed, and may have performed a number of 
experiments themselves ; made oxygen and burnt iron wire 
in it ; possibly have burnt themselves and been the wiser for 
it. Nevertheless, the experiments carried on at considerable 



144 Teaching in Three Continents. 

cost have failed in the purpose intended. The pupils are 
little better able to understand the great world around them 
than they were before ; and the knowledge gained will not 
materially help them if they should have to take up the 
subjects for special purpose. No attempt has been made 
to teach what is of most use as education ; and a panial 
failure has resulted from attempting what is unsuitable or 
impossible to mere children. On the other hand, harm has 
frequently been done by supposed success. The boy leaves 
school witli conceited notions of his accomplishments, and a 
certificate wherewith to practise fraud on his fellows. 

There is an ancient aphorism which says, he who knows 
one truth knows all truth. All such truisms, are after 
all only half truths, and form the best possible debating 
ground. Is truth divisible into sections ? Can anyone 
know all truth? Who is sufficiently free from error to 
decide what is truth ? I will leave these and many other 
questions. One partial meaning may be, that when the 
perfectly genuine truth-seeker has placed his mind in the 
condition for accepting truth, and becomes conscious of one 
little glimmer, that glimmer serves as a light to guide him on 
his ever-satisfying, but never-ending search ; or, limiting the 
meaning, when a fact becomes thoroughly understood, it 
renders many more knowable. It is a standard by which 
others may be measured without error. In science, many 
studies lead to but one end : therefore a thorough study of 
one is preferable to a skimming of many. At the same 
time, the proper study of one must be preceded by a know- 
ledge of- the principles of all. Natural history, astronomy, 
chemistry, philosophy, all lead to the same cycle of truth ; 
but the facts of each, or of all, may be known, and the truth 
remain a sealed treasure. The facts are the skeleton ; 
essential, but to ordinary humanity uninteresting, dry, and 
valueless. The dry bones must live ; and, living, become 
the poetry of Nature. 



The New Education — Science. 145 

An encyclopaedia is valuable as a book of reference. 
The ordinary man, busied with the cares of life, wants his 
facts assorted, distributed, arranged. The specialist needs 
his catalogue of scientific names and descriptions, and the 
more condensed these are the better. His work in itself 
advances life but little ; but he gives the fact, and the 
utilitarian, with his empirical intuitive knowledge of the 
science of men, seizes it, and gathers in a fortune. The 
same fact may be taken by the poet, who builds upon it his 
ideal, and all admire the lovely resultant imagery. The ento- 
mologist spend hours upon the study of the wing of a fly ; he 
dissects, mounts, examines, draws, disputes over the twentieth 
part of an inch in its length, and is so wrapped up in such 
details that beauty is unnoticed, and the insect becomes 
to him something to examine and classify. The ornitholo- 
gist may see in a new bird a specimen to be shot, sketched, 
stuffed, and mounted, with a sufficiency of chemicals to 
keep it from the ravages of insects. A chemist may value 
a new material merely as something to be analysed, to be 
weighed, dissolved, burnt, or otherwise resolved into its 
elements. It is not these men who directly influence the 
ethics of humanity. I do not depreciate the work of the 
specialist, neither are any words of mine required to show 
the importance of his efforts to humanity. In fact, everyone 
should be a specialist in something; but we should not 
attempt to make specialists of children. If natural history 
be the means by which we seek to introduce our pupils to 
Nature, we would do well to take as our model not the 
collector, but the naturalist, who makes friends with Nature, 
communes with her, tells her his secrets and receives hers 
in return, gives her himself, and has her for the giving. 
Such were Audubon, Agassiz, and many of the poets. 
Such an one is John Burrows. Nature told them her secrets, 
for she recognised them as her children. As Longfellow so 
beautifully sings of Agassiz : — 



146 Teaching in Three Continents. 

" And Nature, the clear old nurse, took 
The child upon her knee, 
Saying : ' Here is a story-book 
' Thy father has written for thee.' 

" ' Come, wander with me,' she said, 
' Into regions yet untrod. 
And read what is still unread 
In the manuscripts of God.' 

'* And he wandered away and away 
With Nature, the dear old nurse, 
Who sang to him night and day 
The rhymes of the universe. 

" And whenever the way seemed long, 
Or his heart began to fail, 
She would sing a more wonderful song. 
Or tell a more marvellous tale." 

A crystal was a poem of life to Ruskin ; and Charles 
Kingsley made paving-stones and roof slates tell the life- 
history of our planet. To Hugh Miller a quarry was a 
romance of growth, life, convulsion, and decay ; while the 
helpless worm, for which Cowper pleaded, found in Darwin 
one to whom it could tell its life purpose, more wonderful 
than romance. This life of Nature in Nature is the know- 
ledge which will be of greatest value to the people, for in 
itself it is ennobling, and from it is developed the practical 
study of the specialist. 

This almost indescribable knowledge, or rather love for 
knowledge, can be cultivated ; and, where imparted, is loved. 
I have seen it working its elevating powers in Australia, 
in America, in England. One interprets it through his 
chemicals in the school-room, another among the flowers in 
the garden, another in the quarry, others in the fields among 
the butterflies, or in the woods making friends with squirrels, 
or perhaps use all in turns. Nature's laboratory is always 
open, and no manufacturer exercises a monopoly over 



The New Education — Science. 147 

apparatus. I have just come across an address delivered 
by Professor Huxley at Manchester in 1887, in which occurs 
this passage : — " The other matter in which we want some 
systematic and good teaching is what I have hardly a name 
for, but which may best be explained as a sort of developed 
object lesson. Anybody who knows his business in science 
can make anything subservient to that purpose. You know 
it was said of Dean Swift that he could write an admirable 
poem upon a broomstick ; and the man who has a real know- 
ledge of science can make the commonest object in the world 
subservient to an introduction to the principles and greater 
truths of natural knowledge. It is in that way that your science 
must be taught if it is to be of real service. Do not suppose 
any amount of book-work, any repetition by rote of 
catechisms, and other abominations of that kind, are of 
value for our object. That is mere wasting of time. But 
take the commonest objects, and lead the child from that 
foundation to such truths of a higher order as may be 
within his grasp." 

Never can such teaching be given for a grant, or any 
reward other than the pleasure of doing, giving, and exer- 
cising. Nature is always just, though exacting ; often cruel 
to those who oppose her knowingly or unknowingly, yet 
generous to those who are so to her. Her laws are wide- 
reaching : she is a gentle servant or a hard taskmaster ; a 
merciless tyrant or a generous friend; just as she is treated. 
She will not yield her secrets for a salary, or allow children to 
learn to love her that their teachers may earn a merit grant. 
They who seek her for the love they bear her, nevertheless find 
treasures not the less welcome because unsought. " Seek 
ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be 
added," is expressive of a wider, broader, more significant 
meaning than is frequently assigned to it. 

This chapter already contains too much theory; but 
that is because I found so little good science teaching to 
K 2 



148 Teaching in Three Continents. 

record. This may be a bard statement to make, after 
travelling round the world in search of information on this 
precise point. As a matter of fact, however, I have rather 
learned what to avoid than what to advocate for adoption. 
I have not seen a comprehensive course of rudimentary 
science — I use the word science here apart from its mean- 
ing in college, because I have no other word to express the 
kind of teaching I have indicated — in satisfactory opera- 
tion in any large system of English-speaking schools. I 
have a number of excellent courses of study on '' General 
Knowledge," "Common Objects," "Elementary Science," 
" Physiology and Hygiene," and so forth, and I some- 
times travelled long distances to see them in operation ; 
but I have found that it does not follow that because a 
certain town, city, or district, has a reputation for general 
education, or with regard to some special feature, that, 
therefore, its schools are superior to those of its neighbours. 
The fame of its presiding genius, peculiar circumstances 
leading to its being well advertised, or other fortuitous 
circumstances, may give it a reputation, while the equally 
good, but more quiet, modest, hard work of its neighbour 
may be unrecognised, and remains unknown to the peda- 
gogical world. 

Generally, where experiments have been tried on a 
large scale, their best purpose has been destroyed by 
the absurd wish to see " results " in a few months. The 
fact that the results have been highly beneficial under 
existing circumstances, proves that if the subject could be 
taught in a suitable manner — for example, on the lines 
advocated by Professor Huxley — there would be no subject 
in the school course more educative, more popular, and at 
the same time more practically useful in after-life, than the 
scientific treatment of common things. 

The generally increasing interest in the subject, the 
expense which authorities are occasionally willing to bear, 



The New Education — Science. 149 

and the awakening desire to educate for the life of the 
pupil, not for the result immediately attainable, lead me to 
hope and believe that the day is not far distant when what 
I have written on this subject will be erroneous and out of 
date. 

Since writing the preceding, I have read for the first 
time the report of the School Management Committee of the 
London School Board on this subject. My remarks had 
no particular reference to London ; but an extract from the 
report will show how they apply even to the excellent 
schools of that great city, where I saw some really fine 
science teaching. It illustrates, too, how a measure of 
success is often the surest ground for general dissatisfaction, 
when a comparison is made between what is thus shown 
to be possible, and the ordinary, but no longer satisfactory 
work : — 

" Perhaps of all subjects, the greatest progress has been 
made in the^ teaching of geography, and the least in that 
of elementary science. This is curious, because the latter 
subject can be made intensely attractive and instructive to 
children. Probably the reason lies in a want of knowledge 
on the part of the teacher, and a somewhat vague syllabus 
not answering well to examination requirements. 

" Teachers are unanimous in according to object lessons 
a high place among the subjects best calculated to awaken 
the reasoning faculties of children, and to develop an interest 
in their work generally ; but this theoretical unanimity is, 
unfortunately, not the only point on which they agree, for 
they are practically unanimous in either not taking any 
definite course of lessons, or in giving them in a perfunctory 
and slipshod fashion. Even in schools where special atten- 
tion is paid to object lessons, their raison d'etre appears to 
be not so much ' to induce to observe, or to encourage to 
compare and note resemblances and differences,' but, as is 
sometimes said, to promote a better attendance on Friday 



150 Teaching in Three Continents. 

afternoons. The teacher who makes such a statement 
utters an unconscious satire on his teaching, and acknow- 
ledges that one factor in bad attendance is the dryness and 
wearisomeness of the lessons. There can be no doubt that 
object lessons, apart from their utility in other directions, 
brighten school life, and encourage children to take a deeper 
interest in their work. They are apt, however, to take the 
form of lessons, in which certain definite facts are imparted, 
instead of lessons in which the children are taught to think 
and acquire the power of gaining information. This arises 
mainly from two causes : — 

" {a) Lists of lessons are apparently drawn up at random. 
There are no connecting links, and care is not always taken 
to supply the information in the order necessary to its being 
understood. The lessons present a number of facts for the 
consideration of the children, without the preliminary 
knowledge which may be requisite. Underlying principles 
are ignored, and the statements of the teacher, as to reasons 
and causes, are simply presented for acceptance on faith. 
A lesson on the pump, for instance, would be given without 
a preliminary explanation and illustration of the weight of 
the atmosphere and the pressure of fluids ; a lesson on the 
electric light without any allusion to the difference between 
conductors and non-conductors ; and the notion of the 
electric current would be given in such a way as to be 
misleading. The children are taken into the domain 
of fairyland, as it were, and see, or are told, wonderful 
things ; but this is not the scientific training which should 
be the aim of object lessons. 

"The lessons are not prepared. The teacher depends 
for his facts on knowledge picked up at random, perhaps 
never verified, and generally incomplete ; and for his method 
he trusts to devices on the spur of the moment. The 
consequence is, that the lesson frequently turns on points 
already well known to the children, as that the cow is a 



The New Education — Science. 151 

quadruped ; or on certain formulae that have been adopted 
apparently as adaptable to most things, as that the object 
under consideration is opaque or transparent, that it is rough 
or smooth, &c." 

Several English School Boards have adopted a peri- 
patetic plan of teaching science to boys, and domestic 
economy to girls. I first saw the system in operation in 
Liverpool, where I understand the method was first adopted 
with great success, owing to the enthusiasm of the Demon- 
strator. The subject first taken for the boys was mechanics. 
Birmingham, London, Leeds, and other cities have adopted 
the same plan. I believe there are between eight and nine 
thousand boys receiving instruction in mechanics in the 
London schools. The plan is similar to the supervisor 
system found so useful in the United States. 

An enthusiastic and able scientific teacher is appointed 
to take charge of the instruction in a certain number of 
schools. A laboratory is provided for him in a convenient 
centre, which is supplied with a complete set of apparatus for 
the illustration of the subject selected. A course of lessons 
is drawn up and a time table arranged, so that the Demon- 
strator can conveniently get from one school to another 
without waste of time ; but a whole morning or afternoon is 
usually spent in one school. The Demonstrator prepares 
his day's work in his laboratory, packing the apparatus 
required for his illustrations in suitable boxes, which a boy 
conveys to the school in a handcart. A few minutes 
suffices to set up the apparatus in a class room, into which 
the regular teacher brings his class, and remains with it 
during the demonstration, taking notes of the lesson for re- 
capitulation. Between each visit of the Demonstrator the 
regular teacher recapitulates the lesson, often improvising 
apparatus wherewith to impress a principle not thoroughly 
grasped during the regular lesson. When a teacher shows 
by his knowledge and interest that he is capable of taking 



152 Teaching in Three Continents. 

charge of the subject, he is allowed the use of the apparatus 
to give the lessons without the attendance of the Demon- 
strator. There are now a number of teachers in Liverpool 
who thus relieve the special teachers of work in particular 
schools, and enable them to devote more time to children 
less highly favoured. In addition to the work in the schools, 
the science master conducts special classes for pupil 
teachers, who attend at stated times at his laboratory ; so 
that he is doing a double work in teaching science to the 
present school children, and training teachers who will be 
able to teach the subject themselves in a few years. 

As an introduction to the special lessons under the 
science master, a carefully prepared course of experimental 
object lessons has been drawn up, with elaborate notes on 
the method which uiay be e^nployed, for the guidance of 
teachers. The apparatus required is such as anyone can 
procure and make at a cost of a few pence and a little time ; 
and the lessons, if carried out after the manner of the 
method suggested, cannot fail to have a very valuable 
educative result. The titles of some of the lessons are 
suggestive of the methods employed, such as — The Senses 
and their Use; Classification of Substances; Classification into 
Solids, Liquids, and Gases; Action of Water on a Solid placed 
in it ; Evaporation of Water for Recovery of Dissolved Matters; 
the Pressure of the Air ; and so forth. Mr. Hewitt, the 
special master, among his suggestions, says : " The lessons 
should be largely of a conversational character, the children 
being permitted and encouraged to take as large a share 
as possible in the work." I will insert the syllabus of Study 
in Mechanics. 

MECHANICS. 

SYLLABUS. 

ist Stage. — Matter in three states ; solids, liquids, and gases. 
Mechanical properties peculiar to each state. Matter is porous, com- 



The New Education — Science. 153 

pressible, elastic. Measurement as practised by mechanics. Production 
of a plane surface. Measurement of length, time, and velocity. 

2nd Stage. — Matter in motion. The weight of a body, its inertia 
and momentum. Measures of force. The work done by a force. 
Meaning of the term "energy." Energy may be transferred, but 
cannot be destroyed. Modern notions as to the nature of heat. 

j7-d Stage. — The simple mechanical powers, viz., (i) the lever ; 
(2) the wheel and the axle ; (3) pulleys ; (4) the inclined plane ; (5) the 
wedge ; (6) the screw. Liquid pressure ; the hydrostatic press ; liquids 
under the action of gravity. The parallelogram of velocities. The 
parallelogram of forces — examples commonly met with. 



Method of I^istriictmi. 

This subject is taught, as far as possible, by means of 
special experimental demonstrations, supplemented by 
lessons given by the teachers in the respective schools. 

The first stage is taken up by the boys in the fifth 
standard, the second stage by those in the sixth standard, 
and the third stage by those in the seventh standard. In 
the first stage a demonstration is given weekly, in the 
second stage fortnightly, and in the third stage monthly. 

In every case there should be a careful revision of the 
subject matter of a demonstration before the time for the 
next succeeding demonstration. This recapitulatory lesson 
should, whenever possible, be given by a teacher who was 
present at the original demonstration, and who will, there- 
fore, be able to refer to the experiments then shown. In 
addition to these recapitulatory lessons, it will be necessary 
in the second and third stages for the teachers to give 
independent lessons on certain portions of the subject in 
those weeks when there is no demonstration. Since the 
knowledge of the children is tested, at the inspection of the 
school, by means of a written examination, every oppor- 
tunity should be taken to exercise them in expressing their 
ideas in writing. 



154 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The Liverpool Board, finding that the experiment with 
regard to mechanics has proved so successful, have adopted 
a course of study, which, for want of a better name, is called 
chemistry. The object is to give such knowledge of things 
as will serve as a preparation for the study of chemistry at a 
later stage, and will either enable boys to take up the study 
of the subject for the Science and Art Department with 
intelligence and profit ; or be in itself a source of mental 
training, and useful instruction in those fundamental 
principles of things which will enable them to take a more 
enlightened view of the surroundings of daily life. 

Having entered thus fully into the nature of the work in 
Liverpool, I need not attempt to describe that carried on in 
other places on the same general plan. 

Where science is taken for the boys in the way outlined, 
domestic economy is usually provided for the girls by a 
similar plan of itinerant teachers. Some of the courses of 
lessons are excellent, and I am sorry that the frequency of 
the directions for "preparing for examination" points to the 
prevalent idea that instruction is only beneficial when it 
leads to an immediate measurable result. That quickness 
of growth, associated with rapidity of decay, is not confined 
to mushrooms, appears very frequently to be lost sight of. 

It is the custom of the superintendents of American 
schools to publish manuals in which are laid down, in exact 
detail, the work of each grade. The course of study then be- 
comes a work, or the method of teaching with definite applica- 
tion. In the case of partially trained teachers this is highly 
beneficial, and as no good superintendent thinks of confining 
teachers to the methods laid down, the plan is a commend- 
able one. Many of the school laws of the State have pro- 
vided that lessons in physiology, hygiene, and the effects of 
alcoholic drinks shall be given in all the schools. Generally, 
I consider that the effect of these lessons is highly beneficial, 
although they are sometimes given to comply with the law 



The Nfav Educatiox — Science. 155 

instead of for the purpose intended. Occasionally a school 
committee will select a text-book, about which nothing can 
be said in praise, and which is not worth the space to 
condemn. When a teacher follows such a book slavishly, 
the effect is apt to be an addition to that narrow-minded- 
ness and bigotry, which certainly needs no special training 
in most natures. 

In speaking of Cook County Normal School, I gave a 
short account of the way natural history was there taught 
in an indirect way, apart from set lessons ; and in my 
remarks on Natural History Clubs will be found further 
details of similar teaching. I witnessed similar excellent 
work in various schools ; and from several incidents am 
inclined to think it is more frequent than I at first 
imagined. The teacher who manipulates an electric 
machine, to the amusement of his pupils ; or makes them 
learn a tabulated list of the strata of the earth's crust, under 
the delusion that he is teaching science, rarely fails to inform 
the visitor of his doings, although he may thereby write 
himself down as an ass; but the gentle lover of Nature, who 
from day to day instils into his pupils a love and know- 
ledge of Nature and her laws, possibly never thinks, or at all 
events, does not tell others, he is teaching science. 

On one occasion, I visited a school to see some work in 
drawing, which I had heard was praiseworthy. After satisfy- 
ing myself on the matter which had caused my visit, I sought 
for information on other points. In each of the rooms I 
had noticed sundry specimens of shells, preserved crabs, 
butterflies, dried flowers, boxes in which were cocoons, and 
so forth, and therefore remarked to one of the teachers that 
I was pleased to see that she taught natural history, and 
wished to know whether the pupils were fond of it. With 
evident surprise, she informed me that they did not teach 
natural history at all ! After a little chat, I asked about the 
specimens in the room, and what she did with them. I 



156 Teaching in Three Continents. 

found that they were nearly all brought to the school by the 
children, so that they might talk with her about them. It 
appeared that the principal was very fond of natural history, 
and had succeeded in interesting her pupils and her 
teachers in the subject without giving it a name. Each 
spring the pupils bring to school the first specimen of 
every wild flower that they find open. The date is recorded 
and compared with last year's record, and then the speci- 
men is examined and talked about. 

It is not my intention to enter into further details of 
this most desirable means of education. At present it 
appears impossible that it should be otherwise than excep- 
tional. I will give one or two examples of how many of 
the superintendents plan out the work for their teachers. 

The course of instruction in natural science for the 
schools of St. Louis, requires that oral lessons on plants and 
animals be given in the first and second grades ; that 
physiology and hygiene be taught with the text-book in the 
third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades ; and that oral 
lessons in physics be given in the eighth grade. In the first, 
second, and eighth grades, the maximum time for one recita- 
tion shall be set apart each week for giving these oral 
lessons in natural science. In the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, 
and seventh grades, two recitations shall be given each 
week in physiology and hygiene. 

A large selection of topics is given for each school 
year, from which the teacher will select such as she can best 
clearly illustrate and explain. She must not take any more 
than she can properly teach during the quarter. 
■:■ I will not quote all, but will insert the topics for the first 
and sixth years as fairly typical. 

FIRST YEAR OR GRADE : PLANTS OR OUTLINES OF BOTANY. 

First Quarter. — Flowers ; their structure, colour, perfume, habits, 
and shapes. Inasmuch as the pupils of this grade enter school in the 



The New Education — Science. 157 

spring or early fall, their first quarter's work can be illustrated directly 
from the garden. 

Second Quarter. — Leaves, fruit, seeds ; shape, uses, sap, decay. 

Third Quarter. — Buds, roots, their purpose ; stalks and trunk, bark 
of plants, wood. 

Fourth Quarter. — Circulation of sap, what is made from sap, shape 
of plants, etc. Review of topics taken during year. 

SIXTH YEAR OR GRADE : PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE. 

First Quarter. — How we live ; how the body is covered ; what 
the hair is ; how to keep the hair healthy ; thinning and greyness 
of the hair ; why the body should be clothed ; how the body should 
be clothed ; hygiene of the skin ; something to find out ; how 
bodily motion is directed ; bodily organs must act in harmony ; how the 
nerves are distributed ; nerve matter ; the brain. 

Second Quarter. — How bodily motion is directed ; the spinal cord; 
the ganglia ; sympathetic system ; use of the nerves ; direct nerve 
action ; reflex action ; sympathetic action ; habit and training ; exercise 
of the nerves ; rest of the nerves ; how alcohol affects the nerves ; effect 
on the mind ; how tobacco affects the nerves ; hygiene of the nerves ; 
something to find out. 

Third Quarter. — How the mind gets ideas and expresses them ; 
sensations ; the taste as a sentinel ; flavours.; odours ; sound ; the ear ; 
care of the ear ; light ; need of light ; the eye ; structure of the eye ; 
muscles of the eye ; action of light ; care of the eye. 

Fourth Quarter. — How the mind gets ideas and expresses them ; the 
voice ; speech ; care of the voice ; hygiene of the organs of special 
sense ; something to find out ; stimulants ; narcotics. 

The following extracts give the general principles of the 
method to be adopted in dealing with the course : — 

*' The teacher must not consider herself required to go 
over all the topics assigned for any given quarter. She 
must not attempt to do any more than she can do in a 
proper manner. It it happens that only the first two or 
three topics are all that can be dealt with profitably, the 
teacher must not allow herself to undertake more. 



158 Teaching in Three Continents. 

" In case the teacher finds that the topics of any given 
quarter are not arranged in such an order that she can take 
them up to the best advantage, she is at hberty to change 
that order ; but she must not proceed to the work of a new- 
quarter, or to any portion of it, until she has first given ten 
weekly lessons on the quarter's work she has begun. 

" No more than ten lessons should be given on the work 
laid down for a quarter. When these have been given, 
proceed to the work of the next quarter, whether the topics 
of the quarter in hand have all been considered or only a 
very small portion of them. 

"The course is arranged with reference to method 
rather than quantity or exhaustiveness. If only one topic 
is thoroughly discussed in each quarter of the first year, 
some very important ideas will be gained of the science of 
botany. 

" The question will be asked : Why not reduce the 
number of topics under a given subject to the number that 
can be actually discussed by the teacher ? 

" The answer is : (i) A selection of topics from a com- 
paratively full enumeration is best left to the individual 
teacher. (2) The exact number of topics that cnn be 
profitably discussed by teachers will vary with their capaci- 
ties ; moreover, it will vary from year to year, as teachers 
become familiar with the course ; hence it is necessary to 
have a variety, and to have topics enough for the most 
rapid classes. (3) It is, moreover, important to keep before 
the teacher a full outline of the subject, so as to prevent the 
(very common) tendency to treat a theme in its narrow 
application only, and to omit its general bearings." 

I think the following course of study prepared for the 
use of the teachers of the town of Middletown, Connecticut, 
and included in the Teachers' Manual for 1888, deserves to 
be quoted in full, not only on account of its value in itself, 
and as an illustration of the detail with which courses ot 



The Neiv Education — Science. 159 

study are elaborated ; but also, and more particularly, 
because it is drawn up in accordance with the scheme of 
the x\merican Society of Naturalists, as adopted at their 
meeting held in New Haven in 1887. 

Its compilation is due, I beheve, to Professor William 
North Rice, Ph.D., LL.D., the chairman of the Middle- 
town Board of Education. 



COURSE OF STUDY IN NATURAL SCIENCE FOR 
SCHOOLS OF MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

The object of elementary lessons in natural science is two-fold : to 
train the observing powers, and to give information. The former 
should be especially emphasised in the Primary grades, and the two 
made about equally important in the Grammar grades. 

Before entering school, most children spend a large portion of their 
waking hours out of doors in close and sympathetic contact with Nature, 
seeing, feeling, handling, smelling natural objects. Curiosity is the 
incentive. This unconscious study of Nature should not, as too often 
happens, cease when children enter school. Natural curiosity, so 
active in the young, should be stimulated and directed, not repressed 
and killed. Such repression has often caused children to hate school. 
Their hours in school should be their happiest, because there they 
should find, not only many of those natural objects that arouse and 
attract their attention ; but also a wise, sympathetic teacher to inspire 
and guide them in the exercise of their rapidly developing powers. 

The teaching should be chiefly objective. Large, well-defined 
pictures may be used, whenever it is impossible to obtain the real objects; 
but it should always be borne in mind that the best pictures are poor 
substitutes for the objects themselves. ■ 

In the lower grades, the teacher should studiously avoid the use of 
technical terms, whose meaning is unknown to children. The chief 
object here is, not to teach science, but to tram to close and accurate 
observation, and to stinuilate a keen interest in Nature. In no grade 
should special emphasis be laid upon technical terms and classifications, 
though somewhat more attention may projjerly be given to them in the 
Grammar grades. All classifications should, so far as possible, be the 
result of observation and comparison on the part of the pupils. Let 
the teacher stimulate, direct, suggest, and name. Happy the teacher 



i6o Teaching in Three Continents. 

and fortunate the pupils, if, in this delightful work, the teacher 
judiciously combines speech and silence. An occasional talk, however, 
by the teacher on the subject before the class is both proper and desir- 
able. Such talks should furnish information beyond the reach of the 
pupils' observation. 

Every lesson should be carefully prepared. Aimless and irrelevant 
conversations are profitless. Allow and encourage the freest expression 
of what the pupils see. Encourage the pupils to collect and bring in 
specimens. Elicit, by judicious questions, a description of what they 
have brought. Give them additional information. If necessary, 
postpone the subject till the next day, and learn something about it. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE I. 

Physiology. — Regions of the body — head, trunk, limbs. Details 
of external parts. Uses of external organs. Hygiene of the skin — 
bathing. • 

Zoology. — Lessons on common mammals, e.g., cat, dog, horse, 
cow, rat, squirrel. Let the pupils observe, compare, and describe these 
animals, as regards their external aspect and habits. Compare these 
animals with ourselves. Tell stories illustrative of habits of these and 
other mammals. 

Botany. — Lessons on common plants. Teach pupils to distinguish 
root, stem, leaf. Compare leaves of different plants, as regards general 
form, margin, venation. Require pupils to draw and describe leaves of 
many plants. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE II. 

Physiology. — The framework of the body. Bones, joints, muscles. 
Exhibit anatomical diagrams. Teach the pupils to find in their own 
bodies some of the bones, which can be easily felt through the skin. 
Emphasise importance of correct attitudes, while framework of the body 
is rapidly growing and taking shape. Warn against stooping shoulders 
and crooked backs. The teeth — their forms and uses. Emphasise 
importance of thorough mastication. Necessity of cleaning teeth. 

Zoology. — ^Lessons on mammals continued. Special study and 
comparison of limbs of mammals. Let the pupils find the elbow, wrist, 
knee, and ankle in the cat, dog, horse, cow, rat, squirrel, and any other 
mammals of which specimens or pictures may be at hand. Thus teach 
them the idea of homology, though the word should not be used. 
Compare teeth of common mammals, and lead pupils to recognise 



The New Education — Science. i6i 

adaptation of different kinds of teeth to different kinds of food. Teach 
pupils to recognise degrees of resemblance between animals. The cat 
and the dog resemble each other more than either resembles the horse 
or the rat. Develop idea of classification. Lead pupils to recognise 
character of carnivores, ungulates, rodents. Most of the mammals with 
which the children are familiar are included in these three orders. But 
tell them about monkeys, and kangaroos, and other very different forms 
of mammals, that they may not suppose that all mammals are so 
included. 

Botany. — Different kinds of stems — woody and herbaceous, exo- 
genous and endogenous. By study of numerous examples lead pupils 
to recognise that exogenous stems usually bear net-veined leaves, and 
endogenous stems usually bear parallel-veined leaves. Distinguish 
deciduous and evergreen trees. Let the pupils make lists of each. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE IIL 

Physiology. — Elementary ideas of digestion. Why do we eat ? 
All parts of the body are made of the food which we eat. Food is 
made into blood, and blood made into all the materials of the body. 
But our food is mostly solid, and it must be made liquid before it can 
get into the blood. Different substances dissolve in different liquids — 
e.g.., salt in water, camphor gum in alcohol, iron filings in dilute 
sulphuric acid. Show these experiments. Body itself must make 
liquids which will dissolve food". Put lump of sugar in mouth. Mouth 
fills with saliva, and sugar is dissolved. This illustrates secretion of 
digestive fluids. But meat will not dissolve in saliva. What does 
become of it? Show anatomical plate of stomach, and tell about 
gastric juice. Teach (with use of anatomical diagrams) outlines of 
anatomy of digestive organs. .Show, by experiment, how much more 
quickly powdered salt dissolves in water than lumps of rock-salt. 
Teach importance of thorough mastication. Show gizzard of turkey 
and explain its use. But we have no gizzard, and hence must not 
swallow our food whole, as the turkey does. Wholesome and unwhole- 
some foods. Alcohol. 

Zoology. — Lessons on common birds — e.g.^ robin, hawk, hen, 
duck. Let pupils compare these with each other and with mammals. 
Compare feet and bills of different birds, and show adaptation to habits: 
Continue lessons on homology of limbs. Let the pupils find elbow, 
wrist, knee and ankle in birds. Is the bat a bird ? Talk on instincts 
of birds, shown in periodical migrations and in nest-building. 
L 



1 62 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Botany. — Lessons on flowers. Select plants with perfect and 
somewhat conspicuous flowers. Teach the pupils to recognise sepals, 
petals, stamens, pistils. Let pupils describe and draw the parts in a 
variety of flowers. Study polypetalous flowers first, afterwards mono- 
petalous flowers. Cut open the ovary in large flowers, and show the 
ovules. Develop the idea that the parts of the flower are altered 
leaves. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE IV. 

Physiology. — Circulation. When food has been made into blood, 
blood must be carried to all parts of body — function of circulation. 
Show by anatomical plates the outlines of anatomy of circulatory 
apparatus. Let the pupils find some of their own veins, and feel pulsa- 
tion of heart, and of arteries in wrist and temple. Respiration. Show 
difference between inspired and expired air by experiment with lime- 
water. Burn a candle in a jar, and show that the air in the jar affects 
lime-water like expired air. Carbonic acid always formed when carbon 
burns — i.e.^ when carbon unites with oxygen. Carbon in body and in 
food. Carbon burns — i.e.^ unites with oxygen all over the body. 
Body runs, like a steam-engine, by burning carbon. Object of respira- 
tion — introduction of oxygen and removal of carbonic acid. Anatomy 
of respiratory organs. Hygiene of respiration — dress, ventilation. 
Respiration in aquatic animals. Show gills of fish, and respiratory 
movements in living fish. Fish breathes air dissolved in water. Show 
presence of such air by warming a beaker of water, and so forming 
air-bubbles. 

Zoology. — Lessons on common reptiles, amphibia and fishes — e.g.y 
turtle, snake, frog, perch, pickerel, eel. Let pupils observe, compare, 
and describe. Continue study of homology of limbs. How many of 
these animals have two pairs of limbs like those of mammals and birds? 
Notice external covering of these animals. Their bodies are cold. 
Why ? Respiration of fishes. Is the whale a fish ? Metamorphosis of 
amphibia, as shown in changes from tadpole to frog. Teach characters 
of the three classes — reptiles, amphibia, fishes. Characters possessed 
in common by mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibia, fishes. Sub- 
kingdom vertebrates. 

Botany. — The pistil of a flower develops into a fruit. Different 
kinds of fruits. Seeds. Show the embryo in beans, and other large 
seeds. Plant seeds in pots, and show growth of plants from seeds. 
Cycle of growth, reproduction, death. 



The New Education — Science. 163 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE V. 

Physiology. — Nervous system. Analyse the series of actions 
when a boy put his hand on the radiator and finds it too hot. Nervous 
system, a telegraphic system in the body. Brain the central office. 
Afferent and efferent nerves. Anatomy of the nervous system. 
Hygiene of the nervous system — stimulants and narcotics. 

Zoology. — Study the lobster. Lead pupil to recognise jointed 
external skeleton, distinct regions of body, jointed limbs. Trace 
similarity of structure in feelers, jaws, and accessory jaws, nippers, 
legs and other appendages, including the caudal fin. Cut off edge of 
carapace on one side, and show gills. Contrast articulate type of 
structure, as shown in lobster, with vertebrate type, as shown in animals 
previously studied. Compare diagrams of nervous system in vertebrates 
and articulates. Compare with the lobster, the crab and the sow-bug. 
Teach pupil to recognise the common characters which unite these 
animals in the class Crustacea. Study angle-worm as illustrating articu- 
late type in much simpler form — body not differentiated into regions, no 
jointed appendages. Talks on useful animals. 

Botany. — Study more obscure and difficult forms of flowers than 
those examined in Grade IIL Flowers densely aggregated, as in sun- 
flower, dandelion, daisy. Imperfect flowers, as in willow, oak, 
chestnut. Flowers with open (gymnospermous) pistil, as in pine, 
spruce. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VI. 

Physiology. — Briefly review work of previous grades. Special 
study of the eye. Anatomy of the eye. Illustrate formation of image 
on retina by use of a large lens. Hygiene of the eye. Injury of eye 
by use of light too strong, too feeble, unsteady or improperly placed. 
Cultivation of near-sightedness by bad positions in reading and writing. 

Zoology. — Study common insects, as the bee, butterfly, fly, beetle, 
squash-bug, dragon-fly, grasshopper. Compare these animals with 
lobster, sow-bug and angle- worm, and recognise in all these the common 
characters of articulates. In insects, note the characteristic division of 
body intohead, thorax, and abdomen. Compare wings of insects, as regards 
number, form, venation, texture. Show scales from wings of moth and 
butterfly under microscope. Examine the mouth-parts of those insects 
which are not too small. Supplement observation with pictures. 
Under lens examine eyes of insects. Explain their peculiar structure. 
L 2 



164 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Metamorphosis of insects. Catch some caterpillars in the fall, and 
keep them in boxes in the school-room. Some of them will probably 
survive, and appear as moths or butterflies early in the spring. Talks 
on injurious animals. Show how some animals are useful by destroying 
injurious animals— ^.^. , insectivorous l:)irds. 

Botany. — Distinction between flowering and flowerless plants. 
Examples of flowerless plants — ferns, club-mosses, horse-tails, mosses, 
lichens, fungi, sea- weeds. Show fructification of ferns. Show that the 
distinction of root, stem, and leaf, so obvious in nearly all flowering 
plants and in ferns and others of the higher flowerless plants, vanishes 
entirely in fungi and sea-weeds. 

Mineralogy. — Study crystalline form, cleavage, colour, lustre, 
hardness, of some of the minerals common in the vicinity of Middle- 
town — e.g., quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, garnet, tourmaline, 
beryl. 

NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VII. 

Physiology. — Senses of hearing, smell, taste. 

Zoology. — Study the river mussel. Direct pupil's attention to 
shell (with its hinge, ligament, mantle impression, and muscular 
impressions), mantle, gills, palpi, mouth, foot, adductor muscles. 
Compare this animal with the oyster and the clam. Note that the 
former has only one adductor muscle ; while the latter has the mantle 
lobes united, forming a sac which is continued posteriorly in the 
breathing-tubes or syphons. Examine some pond-snails. These will 
be found to resemble the preceding in their flabby unjointed bodies, 
destitute of internal skeleton ; but will be seen to differ in having a 
distinct head with feelers, and a spiral univalve shell. Examine shells 
of some of the sea-snails. Lead the pupils to recognise characters of 
lamellibranchiata and gastropoda, as classes of the sub-kingdom 
mollusca. Contrast the mollusca with the vertebrata and articulata. 
Give some talks on corals, sponges, and other animals lower in the 
scale than molluscs. Do not let the pupil suppose that the classes he 
has studied comprise the whole animal kingdom. Talks on geographical 
distribution of animals. Give a little idea of geological succession of 
animals. 

Botany. — Geographical distribution of plants. Uses of plants. 
Relation of plants to animals. 

Geology. — Gravel, sand, clay. Show that these result from the 
disintegration of pre-existent rocks. Erosion, transportation, and 



The New Education — Science. 165 

deposition by water. Study gutters and puddles for illustration of 
action of aqueous agencies. Conglomerate, sandstone, shale. Show 
that these result from consolidation of gravel, sand, clay. Visit 
Portland quarries. Other rocks are sediments not merely consolidated, 
but crystalHsed by action of internal heat. Study specimens of gneiss 
and mica schist. Contrast their texture with that of sandstone and other 
sedimentary rocks. Still other rocks have come up in molten condition 
from interior of globe — e.g. , lava, trap. Talks on volcanoes. 



NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VIII. 

Physiology. — Review nutritive functions, using elementary text- 
book. Illustrate subject with a few dissections. 

Physics. — Elementary text-book. Illustrate with experiments, as 
much as practicable. 

In many places when I asked whether science was 
taught, I received the reply, " No ; I should like to teach 
science, for I was very fond of it at college [or normal school, 
as the case might be], but we have no apparatus, and the 
Board of Education will not go to the expense of fitting up 
a room and providing it." They referred, of course, to 
physics and chemistry. I beUeve those teachers were 
usually in earnest; but they had been badly taught, and 
were under the impression that teaching physics and 
chemistry consists in manipulating certain expensive ap- 
paratus. It would appear that very many of those who 
take short courses of chemistry or physics in expensive 
laboratories, are unable to conceive of either subject existing 
anywhere outside a laboratory with curious brass instruments 
and numerous glass vessels. 

A teacher who is unable to improvise the greater part of 
the apparatus needed for all the science necessary in an 
elementary school, is not a fit person to be trusted with 
expensive and elaborate apparatus. One who can properly 
teach the fundamental principles of chemistry and physics 
to boys and girls is independent of the manufacturer ; and 



1 66 Teaching in Three Continents. 

if he cannot teach, no manufacturer will enable him to do 
so. Of course, while a good teacher can do without 
apparatus, there is no doubt but that he will do still better 
with it. I am not merely theorising ; I am but stating the 
result of many observations, and I will give two examples of 
what I mean. 

In a magnificent school in Boston, where I spent a very 
pleasant afternoon, and heard some good teaching in other 
subjects, I listened to a " science lesson " given by the 
principal to the eighth grade boys and girls. He had a 
very convenient demonstrating table, and large cases of 
first-class chemical and physical apparatus at hand. Here 
is an outline of the lesson (?) The pupils were seated with 
large note-books and pencils, when the master called out, 
" Put down : To make red light, you take nitrate of strontium 
in a saucer and add alcohol ; then you warm the saucer and 
set light to the alcohol, when it burns with a red flame. 
Now watch me do it." Without further comment he per- 
formed the experiment, and smiled with evident satisfaction 
when the flame burned red, and the class cried, "Oh! isn't it 
pretty ! " He then prepared several other coloured flames in 
similar fashion, after which he said, " Put down the word 
'Attraction,' and take careful and full notes, making a sketch 
of each experiment as I perform it. The first kind of attrac- 
tion is called magnetic attraction, which, as you know, points 
to the north. I will take this needle-magnet, and when I 
hold another magnet near, the needle is attracted, showing 
a law of which we will have to speak by-and-bye. Draw the 
experiment. Now write down 'Electrical Attraction,' which 
is the next kind we will take, according to the order of the 
book. I take a glass rod and rub it with a silk handker- 
chief, and when I put it near this pith ball hung on a silk 
thread, the ball is first attracted and then repelled. Now 
draw a picture of the experiment. Now write ' Cohesion ' as 
the next kind of attraction. Everything is made up of 



The New Education — Science. 167 

molecules. I take a piece of wood, and I cannot pull it 
apart ; but if I take a rope of sand I can do so, because the 
sand has no attraction. This force is called cohesion. 
Now I put a globule of mercury on a glass plate, and put 
another plate on top — draw a picture of the experiment — 
and you see the mercury spreads out flat. Now, when I 
take off the plate, the cohesion of the mercury draws it up 
into a heap again. Here are two sheets of glass which I 
will wet and put together. Now, you see, I can hardly 
separate them again except by sliding one off the other. 
That is cohesion. Now put down * Adhesion.' When 
chalk sticks to the blackboard, that is adhesion. Now put 
down * Capillary Attraction.' I will hang this piece of 
blotting paper on a hook and let the end dip in water. 
You see the water is drawn up. That is capillary attraction. 
If I dip this stick into a bowl of mercury, you see none 
sticks to it, because there is no adhesion. When I put the 
stick into water they adhere." He then took out a set of 
tubes for showing capillary attraction, and holding them up 
said, " You see these tubes. Some are larger than others. 
Now, if I were to take some coloured water in a basin, and 
put the ends of these tubes into the basin, the water would 
rise up a good way in the smallest tube, but hardly at all in 
the largest. Make a drawing of this." He did not perform 
the experiment, but took another piece of apparatus for 
illustrating the same property of liquids, and said, " You see 
these two sheets of glass ? They are so fixed that the edges 
to my left are joined, but those to the right are open about 
half an inch. Now, if I were to put this into coloured 
water, the water would rise a long way up on the closed 
side, and form a curve facing the other way. You will read 
about it in your books, and you have seen the glass and 
know what it is." When he had proceeded thus far, I con- 
cluded I had written sufficient, and did not take further 
notes. Apart altogether from the accuracy of his state- 



1 68 Teaching in Three Continents. 

meiits, I think it would be difficult to find an example of 
greater disregard of all sound principles of teaching. That 
man^ though principal of one of the finest schools in the 
best parts of Boston, when supplied with the best appliances, 
could not teach ! 

By way of contrast, I cannot do better than refer to the 
work at the New York College for the training of teachers, 
where all the apparatus used is made by the Science Master, 
or the students themselves. Lamp-chimneys, pickle bottles, 
preserve jars, canned fruit tins, laths, bits of elastic from 
old boots, scent bottles, glass rods and tubes, sealing-wax, 
and such-like inexpensive articles, are made to serve the 
purpose of illustrating all the principles of science needed. 
The aim of the enthusiastic teacher is to get the pupils to 
think about things, and understand the principles ; the 
scientific wording can be obtained from books if needed. 
I cannot give the outline of a lesson, because I did not take 
notes, and prefer not to trust to memory. I was too much 
interested in watching the work to attempt to write down 
what took place, and as a matter of fact, such lessons can- 
not be put on paper. It is the aim of the college to show 
the students how to teach, and how to make the apparatus 
for themselves. 

I saw excellent science demonstrations being conducted 
in several high schools, but of these it is not my intention 
to speak. The laboratories are usually finely and conveni- 
ently fitted, so that all the pupils can engage in experimental 
work. My experience is not sufficient to enable me to 
express an opinion as to whether the use of text-books is 
abused ; but I may say that I usually found that students 
worked at the laboratory-table with a book open in front. 
Thus, if they were testing for a given salt, they would have 
the book, with directions as to what tests they should apply, 
open on the table for constant reference. 

In the schools of South Australia, slow but steady 



The New Education — Science. 169 

progress is being made towards a general systematic teach- 
ing of that introduction to scientific thought, which I have 
indicated is about all that can be at present made com- 
pulsory in the way of science in elementary schools. When 
the last course of study was drawn up some years since 
under the head of Special Lessons, the following instruc- 
tions were given : " These are to take the place of the 
object lessons hitherto given, which have been of compara- 
tively little use from the want of a definite plan. A pro- 
gramme of lessons suitable to each class is to be prepared 
by the teacher, and submitted to the inspector ; and for 
this the courses given below are to be considered merely 
as suggestions. It is, however, expected that at least, one 
General Lesson and a lesson on the principles of morality 
will be given in all cases each week, and that the fourth and 
fifth classes (equivalent to the sixth and seventh of England 
and the seventh and eighth grammar grades of the United 
States) will receive instruction in the duties of a citizen 
based on the text-book * Laws we Live Under,' issued by 
the Department. The text-books for object lessons used 
up to the present time are unsatisfactory ; the lessons are 
too pretentious. ' Ricks' Object Lessons ' will be found a 
good guide for Method. 

" Special lessons should never be allowed to degenerate 
into mere explanations of terms. 

" Suggested courses of lessons. 

" Lessons on animals illustrated by pictures. 

" Lessons on plants, illustrated by specimens and pic- 
tures. 

" Lessons on manufacturing processes, illustrated by 
specimens and pictures. 

" Lessons on elementary physics, if the teacher possesses 
suitable apparatus for illustration. 

'' Lessons on the human body, if properly illustrated." 

Under these regulations much progress was made, and 



170 Teaching IN Three Continents. 

many teachers developed a taste for genuine science in 
consequence of their endeavours to make it interesting to 
their pupils. The Department did not supply apparatus ; 
but sold it to teachers for only a portion of the cost. 
Altogether the result was satisfactory, although, but for the 
yearly result examinations, I believe much greater progress 
would have been made. 

In 1886 the Technical Education Commission ap- 
pointed by the South Australian Parliament reported, 
among other things, that instruction in elementary science 
should be given in the higher classes. The reference made 
to the subject by the Inspector-General of Schools, Mr. 
J. A. Hartley, B.A., B.Sc. (Lon.), in his next report, is 
worthy of being quoted in full : — 

"It is somewhat doubtful how far another recommend- 
ation of the Technical Board can be carried out, viz. : — 
That 'instruction in elementary science should be given 
to the children in the higher classes.' The obstacle to be 
feared is the want of knowledge on the part of the teachers, 
and their consequent dependence on text-books. It is 
unfortunately true, that it is very easy to teach so-called 
science in such a way, as to make the whole business a 
pretentious sham ; and many text-books lend themselves to 
this deception. Such a book consists of a logically arranged 
summary of results expressed in strictly technical language. 
If it should fall in the way of a person who has no 
first-hand knowledge, he may draw up imposing notes of a 
lesson, the hard words are duly written on the blackboard, 
and committed to memory by the children, who will 
astonish the unwary visitor (if he comes soon enough) by 
the facility with which they will reproduce this parrot 
knowledge ; but within a week or a month all will have 
disappeared from their memories as completely as did the 
chalk from the blackboard when the lesson was over. For 
more than twenty years the leaders of scientific thought 



I 



The New Education — Science. 171 

have been vigorously proclaiming against instruction of this 
kind, and a great change has resulted in the Universities 
and the better class of secondary schools ; but, so far as I 
know, primary schools have not yet succeeded in teaching 
science satisfactorily. There are exceptions, of course, to 
the rule, and some are to be found in this colony. A 
teacher takes an interest in nature ; he is an enthusiast with 
the microscope, a student of mineral specimens, fond of 
physics or chemistry ; such a man carries his pupils along 
with him, and they receive impressions in their young days 
which may last their lives. All men of this class are sure 
to teach science, and to teach it well ; and the more severely 
they are let alone by the Department, the better for every- 
body. There is an intermediate class who will probably 
teach the subject well with a little assistance ; lastly, there 
are a certain number who are as deaf and blind to the 
attractions of science, as some scientific men are to those of 
literature. I hope I am not overstating the case, but the 
greatest caution will be required if the Department is to 
avoid falling into the error referred to, of mistaking the 
appearance for the reality, knowledge of words for know- 
ledge of things. We intend to make an earnest attempt, 
and time alone can show whether it succeeds or fails." 

Since then much progress has been made both with 
regard to supplying the necessary training to teachers, and in 
giving systematic instruction in the schools. 

I will quote from the report made by the Inspector 
General of the Colony of Victoria, and the Principal of the 
Melbourne Training College, Messrs. Main and Topp, who 
spent some months in 1888 in making a comparative in- 
vestigation into the work of the public schools of the colonies 
of New South "Wales, Victoria, and South Australia : — 

" Elementary science is now taught in the three colonies 
in the higher classes, and in the lower classes object-lessons 
are prescribed as an introduction to science teaching. In 



172 TEACHiSfG IN Three Continents. 

New South Wales physiology is first taken up, then physics ; 
and, in the highest class, lessons in physics are generally 
given in boys' departments, and physiology is again taken 
up in girls' departments. 

" In our (Victorian) schools the course is more logically 
correct, though perhaps not so suitable for children. The 
earlier part of the course consists of the general properties 
of matter, laws of heat, etc.; this is followed in the next 
class by the physical principles on which common machines 
depend, and in the highest class the laws of living things are 
to be explained. 

" In South Australia teachers are allowed to choose any 
science for which they have a taste, provided that a sys- 
tematic course is given. In one school magnetism and 
electricity are taken ; in another, chemistry ; in another, 
geology, mineralogy, and so on. 

" The attainments of the children in this subject were 
very varied. 

" In all the colonies, we found in many cases that the 
pupils had merely learnt a few definitions by rote, while in 
other schools the children had a really intelligent grasp of 
scientific principles and of the experimental method. 

" The method of examination in this subject is open to 
criticism. In the other two colonies, as in England, the 
examination is oral, partly by the teacher, partly by the 
inspector ; in Victoria the examination is written, and con- 
sists in giving three brief answers to as many questions." 



CHAPTER VII. 



TEACHERS AND THEIR TRAINING. 

General Comparison.— Comparison of Methods of Training. — English 
System gives prominence to Practice. — American more Educational. — 
English Teacher studies Methods.- -American, Principles. — Causes of 
Difference between American and English Teachers. — English Pupil 
Teacher System. — Training Colleges. — American Normal Schools. — 
High School Course and Normal Course. — Prominent Characteris- 
tics of English Teachers. — Prominent Characteristics of American 
Teachers. — Normal Schools. — Philadelphia. — Cook County Normal 
School. —Nature-Teaching. — Newspaper Cyclopaedia. — Washington 
Normal Schools. 

General Comparisons. 

"The principle of Co-operation is fundamental in a republic; it is 
the soul of both its individual and constitutional life. Social friction and 
the free interchange of experience presuppose a degree of equality ; and 
equality, in turn, incites to combination. The individuality is strong in 
proportion as he takes to himself the experience of all ; each is increased 
as he gives to all." — Boone. 

The United States is the great home of association. 
The instinct and capacity for government is very strong. 
It is facetiously said, that if three Americans have the same 
object in view, they form an association, of which one is 
president, another secretary, the third treasurer, and all are 
equals. This great tendency — I might say power — must 
not be lost sight of in comparing the teachers of America 
with those of England. I find the few English educators 
who have paid any attention to American schools, invariably 
lay great stress on what undoubtedly is one of the weak- 
nesses of the Republic — the lack of training on the part of 
teachers. The great difference lies in the fact that an 



174 Teaching in Three Continents. 

English teacher, having gone through the period of pupil- 
teachership and training college course, is considered to be 
trained ; and certainly the majority leave the college with 
the idea that they know how to teach well, and if the 
cold, unsympathetic authorities would but give them the 
chance, they would regenerate the teaching world. " Un- 
wise " authorities do not give them the opportunity, and 
things are not reformed. The ardour of freshness gives 
way to indifference. They often do not teach as they 
have been taught to do, except when a visitor is present, 
who is considered important enough to cause them to 
rouse themselves. The outcome of this feeling is seen, in 
the little interest taken in the science or ethics of education 
afterwards. If they read books or papers on education, it is 
chiefly those which show real or imaginary short roads to 
ICO per cent. Consider the small number of educational 
papers in England, the scarcity of pedagogical libraries, the 
weakness and insignificance of the teachers' guilds of 
England, compared with the educational literature, the State, 
county, city, or even school pedagogical libraries, and the 
great flourishing Teachers' Associations and Institutes of the 
chief States of the Republic. The American teacher more 
frequently studies Herbert Spencer, Frobel, Horace Mann, 
Pestalozzi, Payne, Sully, and Fitch, while his English cousin 
prefers works bearing on " How to Gain loo per cent, in 
Arithmetic," "How to Prepare for Examination," "Practical 
Aids to Teaching," etc. 

I would not be misunderstood here. It must not be 
thought that I believe all, or even the majority, are the 
great readers of the books I have mentioned — or that there 
are not a large number of English teachers who read the 
science of education just as much as Americans — but that 
a larger propoi-tion do so in the Republic than in the King- 
dom, And it must be remembered that I am generalising 
from teachers as I saw them, and from the books which I 



Teachers and their Training. 175 

found they owned, or which were most widely advertised 
and talked about, as well as from those numerous points 
of indirect evidence which perhaps have even greater 
influence on the judgment, but cannot be stated. Many 
of our most correct impressions are frequently formed from 
evidence of that indescribable character which refuses to 
be put on paper. The much-laughed- at "woman's reason," 
" I know because I do," is not so illogical as it seems ; 
being but another way of saying that the knowledge is 
rather the effect of intuition, or the unconscious result of 
accumulated experience, than of a definable reasoning 
process. I came into contact with only a very small 
fraction of the vast army of about 400,000 American, or the 
smaller body of English teachers ; but I think those I met 
were representative. 

It must further be remembered here as elsewhere, 
when comparisons are made, that a lady or gentleman 
whose social relations would cause the idea of teaching 
in an English elementary school to be considered dero- 
gatory, would consider it a perfectly natural thing to take 
an appointment in an American public school. Accord- 
ing to the English idea, the social status of teachers is 
higher in America. English teachers appear to frequently 
discuss the politics of education, or, more correctly, ques- 
tions relating to status, etc., and I heard .a good deal in 
London about attempting to send a teacher to the House 
of Commons at the next election to represent their interests. 
Nevertheless, educational questions, both of a theoretical 
and practical nature, I believe, form the chief subjects con- 
sidered in the meetings, which are usually only attended by 
the teachers of one class of schools, and not at all by the 
public. There are exceptions to this — notably the Teachers' 
Guild of Liverpool, the largest in England, I was told—of 
which I shall speak elsewhere. 

The National Education Association of America is the 



176 Teaching in Three Continents. 

largest organisation of education in the world, and annually 
crowds an opera-house for a week with thousands of teachers 
and educators of all grades, to discuss the psychological basis, 
no less than the practical bearing, of the most prominent 
educational proposals. The individual States hold meetings, 
which are often large ; even the small State of Rhode 
Island can attract nearly one thousand teachers for three 
days once a year — two special holidays being granted for 
the purpose, the railway people giving free passes or re- 
duced fares, and the hotels making special rates — to discuss 
the " live " questions of the education of the day from the 
practical standpoint of educators. One of the most interest- 
ing features of the meetings is the fact, that an equal or 
greater number of citizens of the city and the neighbourhood, 
where the Association meets, will sit and listen to the papers 
and discussions. Could the teachers, say of Huddersfield 
and district, or even of Sheffield, Leeds, or Manchester, 
engage a town-hall for three days a year, and fill it with 
teachers of Board schools, voluntary schools, private schools, 
academies, colleges. School Board members, managers, and 
friends of education generally, to carry out such a pro- 
gramme oi^^ Exercises" — using the Americans' term for the 
items on such programmes — as the Rhode Island Institute 
of Instruction prepares annually — an example of which will 
be found in the chapter on " Supplementary Means for Pre- 
paring Teachers " ? In America direct and personal interest 
in education is not confined to the minority — it is the few 
who do Jiot take an interest in the schools. The opposite 
is the case in AustraUa, and I believe to a still greater 
degree in England. 

The difference between English and American schools 
and teachers must be attributed to a great variety of 
causes; but perhaps the chief may be summarised and 
briefly stated to be — difference in the social status of both 
teachers and pupils ; difference in character and degree of 



Teachers and their Training. 177 

the training of teachers ; difference in social and political 
conditions of the two countries, and the consequent differ- 
ences in school government ; varying methods of testing 
school-work ; different character of discipline, again largely 
due to varying social conditions, together with the arrange- 
ment of the school-houses. Or, more briefly still, the differ- 
ences are due to the fact that the American public school 
is provided for all sorts and conditions of children, who 
can be attracted by the inducements of fine buildings, 
cheerful and bright surroundings, and free instruction, and 
who are attended and taught by the sons and daughters of 
rich and poor — professional, clerical, and industrial citizens 
alike ; while the English elementary schools are expressly 
provided for the children of the poor and indigent, who, 
either from social status or lack of means, could not 
attend the more expensive private schools. This broad 
statement is, of course, subject to modification. Many of 
the rich and exclusive Americans do not send their children 
to the public schools ; and many English people who could 
afford to pay academic fees wisely send their children to 
the Board schools. I was given to understand that these 
are constantly increasing. They are above the petty class 
prejudices which so retard the progress of reforms in the 
grand old Mother Land; and, seeing that Board schools 
give a better elementary training than private institutions, 
consider it no disgrace to give their children the advantage 
of what they by their school-rates assist to provide. 



METHODS OF TRAINING. 

England. 

The majority of English elementary teachers receive a 
systematic training ; the majority of American teachers have 
no such preparation. The English teacher^ commencing at 

M 



1 78 Teaching in Three Continents. 

fourteen or fifteen, has three or four years' apprenticeship, 
and following that, two years in a training college. When 
special training is given in America, it consists of a High 
School course, and one or two years' special Normal course. 
The dominating feature of the English training is practice, 
or experience ; of American, study and science of teaching. 
The English system is a development of the special con- 
ditions of the country at the time of Messrs. Bell and 
Lancaster; the American is based on German methods — as 
indeed many other prominent features of American schools 
are. 

One of the ablest of the School Board clerks whom I 
had the pleasure of meeting in England, said during a chat 
we had on this subject, " I must confess that the German 
system of training makes better students ; but ours produces 
better teachers. The English method certainly fails in 
giving us cultured, educated men, who are life-long students 
for the sake of knowledge ; but the English schoolmaster 
can teach, and that is what we want." I did not agree; but 
were I to admit his conception of what constitutes teaching, 
I would at once grant his conclusions. Or I might grant 
the correctness of his statement ; but submit that not 
"■ teaching," but education, is the chief aim of a school- 
master, and that training a pupil to find out one fact in 
such a way that he thereby gains the desire as well as the 
power to obtain more, is a better result than "teaching" 
facts sufficient for loo per cent, at the result examination. 
It may be our disagreement was probably more from a 
failure to understand one another, than from actual diversity 
of opinion. 

A contrast somewhat more in detail may be interesting 
here. " A ])upil teacher is a boy or a girl engaged by the 
managers of a public elementary day-school, on condition 
of teaching during school hours under superintendence of 
the principal teacher, and receiving instruction out of 



I 



Teachers and their Training. 179 

school hours." The period of apprenticeship is usually 
four years, but may be reduced to two provided the 
candidate is old enough, and can pass the correspond- 
ing examination. The minimum age is fourteen years, so 
that their term of service may not be completed before 
eighteen. 

" At the close of their engagements they may become — 
{a) Students in Training Colleges, {b) Assistant Teachers, 
{c) Provisionally Certificated Teachers." I cannot give any 
estimate as to the proportion of ex-pupil teachers who 
enter the training colleges, or what number are employed 
as assistants ; but I believe the proportion of the latter is 
not great. 

Nearly all of the most proficient pupil teachers, on com- 
pletion of their course, at the age of from eighteen to twenty, 
enter one of the excellent training colleges. The fees are 
merely nominal, and include board and residence in college ; 
but each institution makes its own terms. They are all, like 
the schools, under private management, being supported by 
the funds of the educational societies and Government 
grants, which depend on certain requirements being com- 
plied with. The chief of these are the annual examinations 
of the Education Department and the reports of Her 
Majesty's Inspectors. The grant may amount to £,^0 a 
year for each male, and ;^35 a year for each female student, 
but must not exceed 75 per cent, of the cost of the institu- 
tion. The course of study is — {a) Academic, {b) Profes- 
sional — including both the science and practice of teaching. 
There are always practice, or " Model " Schools, in connec- 
tion with the colleges. 

If the student satisfactorily passes the final examina- 
tion, he receives a provisional certificate, which is replaced 
by a full certificate if the inspector reports favourably on 
his subsequent work in the school to which he may be 
appointed. 
M 2 



i8o Teaching in Three Continents. 

Thus, under the EngUsh system, the teacher begins 
his special training at the close of the elementary school 
course, steps out of the senior class to be junior teacher in 
the same school, and in many cases at once takes charge 
of a class of forty pupils. He commences to earn money 
for professional work during the period when the cha- 
racter is unformed, and the mind least stable. In most 
cases, the whole day is spent in teaching under most 
difficult conditions, with one or two other classes in the 
same room. In the evening, what little energy is left 
is to be used in preparing themselves for the next ex- 
amination. Strenuous efforts are being made by several 
School Boards to improve this state of things, to pro- 
vide time for study, and relieve the strain of teaching the 
whole time. 

From this it will be seen that not only does the English 
teacher receive his training free ; but is able almost to 
support himself while doing so. Those who take up the 
work of teaching intend to continue at it. A full certificate 
cannot be obtained until a year or two after leaving college 
— or, say, at twenty-two years of age ; but when received, is 
good for life. This gives security and permanency, but 
has the disadvantage of allowing and encouraging the 
feeling that, the certificate having been earned, effort may 
cease ; and the teacher not unfrequently crystallises into a 
grant-earning machine. Desire for promotion, love of 
study, and other influences, are powerful enough to 
stimulate all the better men and women to continuous 
effort. The permanency and security of the teacher's 
position in England seemed to me to be much greater 
than in America, where they are usually only engaged 
for a year at a time, although the average length of service 
in the city schools shows that the re-engagement at the 
beginning of each year is a mere formality in most 
cases. 



Teachers and their Training. i8i 

America. 

It is more difficult to make a concise statement with 
respect to the training of American teachers. There is 
considerable variety in details under the different authorities. 
The minimum age at which a person may be employed 
as a teacher is generally eighteen years ; in some places — 
Chicago, for example — it is nineteen. Graduates of Normal 
Schools are usually at least a year older. At the time 
when the English pupil-teacher is passing her candidate's 
examination, the American pupil is " graduating " from the 
Grammar School. She then enters upon a three or four 
years' High School course, frequently — or rather, generally 
— with no adaptation to the work of teaching. It is simply 
an academic course preparatory to the University. At 
eighteen she graduates, and then takes a special course 
of one or two years in the Normal Section. As she has 
already graduated in academic subjects, this time is spent 
in the study of the science and history of education, and 
practice-work. Literary work is only taken in connection 
with the theory of teaching. The schools are all free, but 
students usually have to provide books, so that it is 
necessary for the parents of an intending teacher to sup- 
port her until the age of eighteen to twenty. The custom 
of having residential colleges is not followed. I shall 
presently give more detailed accounts of three Normal 
Schools, which I believe will give a clearer idea of the 
American system than a lengthy general statement. It 
will be conceded, I think, contrary to established notions, 
that the English authorities are more liberal than the 
American. While the one provides means of training 
free, the other provides for the support of the intending 
teacher from the elementary school age. 

The American Normal graduate is ready for active 
work at about the same age as the English Training 



1 82 Teach I KG in Three Continents, 

College student ; and we can to a certain extent compare 
their qualifications for the high duties they have to perform. 

The special feature of the English teacher is technical 
skill in practical teaching ; that of the American, an edu- 
cated and cultured mind. The time one has spent in 
teaching or learning to teach, the other has spent in study. 
The one has all along been subject to the influences of a 
narrowing occupation, and now oftentimes considers him- 
self well-nigh perfect in his art ; the other has been under 
the influences of a liberal training, is well versed in the 
principles of education, has had little practice in teaching ; 
but is fully conscious of the fact, and therefore ready to take 
advantage of every means to compensate for his lack. A 
conscious ignorance is often better than a self-satisfied know- 
ledge. The one is a continuous antidote against itself, the 
other the mother of pedantry and prejudice. The social 
conditions of England make the attainment to the position 
of schoolmaster, one which many teachers and their friends 
look upon as sufficient progress in the social scale to 
warrant the assumption of airs, which often afford con- 
siderable amusement to visitors used to democratic sur- 
roundings and ideas. 

So far I have endeavoured to confine myself to the 
small proportion of American teachers who have had a 
special training ; but so far as I was able to judge, the line 
of demarcation between the teachers who have had a special 
and those who have only had an indirect training was im- 
perceptible. The conclusion was irresistible, that the 
excellence of American teaching is the result of those 
supplementary, casual, indirect means which I, in common 
with the majority of others unacquainted with the conditions 
of country and people, was inclined formerly to depreciate. 

The general impression left on my mind may be 
summarised : — 

I. The special and systematic training of teachers. 



Teachers and their Training. 183 

especially of men, while excellent and thorough in some 
centres, is decidedly weak in many places and deficient 
generally. 

2. The average American teacher maintains better dis- 
ciphne with less force ; is a superior educator, but less an 
adept than her English compeer in filling the pupil's head 
with facts. 

3. The conditions of the States are very different from 
those of either England or Australia. Indirect influences 
so generally modify the expected condition of things, the 
interest in and acquaintance with the public education is 
so widespread and keenly felt, and the teachers are usually 
so bright and progressive, that a much smaller amount of 
special training produces an equal degree of competency. 

The thought occurs, when reading the severe comments 
of Americans on the poor teaching in the schools of the 
States, that either their ideal must be so high, that what I 
considered good, by comparison with work done elsewhere, 
is very much below their conception of possible excellence ; 
or, perhaps more hkely, with all my care not to confine 
myself to the show schools recommended by the authorities 
and friends of education, who, of course, very properly 
wished to give me as favourable an opinion as possible, I may 
not have seen average schools. That the first hypothesis 
is true I am convinced. I am equally willing to admit the 
likely possibility of the second ; but I do not intend to 
modify the descriptions of what I did see, and the con- 
clusions to be drawn therefrom, on account of what it might 
have been possible for me to find had I searched for the 
bad. The comparisons between different systems being 
made on the same basis, the conclusions are still just. As 
a sample of the florid language which has led me to make 
these remarks, I will quote a few lines from the editorial 
columns of the April number of Education : — 

" Untold thousands of children in our oldest and most 



184 Teaching in Three Continents. 

cultivated States get little help from the kind of country 
school which is their only seminary ; kept by a green girl 
or bumptious boy, in defiance of all sound principles of 
elementary education. And even in our great cities, and 
oftener in our large towns, the graded schools are honey- 
combed with incompetents, mental and moral, who muddle 
the work for a year and baffle the wisdom and energy of the 
ablest superintendent." Probably this, like patent medicine, 
should be taken with discretion. 



AMERICAN NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

Philadelphia. 

The Normal School for the training of teachers, like many 
other points of the American system of education, follows 
the German rather than the English plan. When I state 
that I found each successive institution I visited differed 
somewhat from those I had previously inspected, it will be 
understood that uniformity does not reach the stage of 
monotony. Besides many private Normal Schools, there 
are three classes which may be termed public institutions. 
These are the State, County, and City Normal, and each 
derives its designation from the authority under which it has 
been established. State institutions are to be found in the 
Eastern, Northern, and Middle North-Western States, as 
well as in California. 

County Normal Schools are generally similar to the 
above ; but are provided to supply the needs of a more 
limited area : while the school systems of cities, being per- 
fectly independent of the State in which they are located, 
prefer to make their own arrangements for the training of 
teachers. The pedagogical chairs of some of the Uni- 
versities will come under the head of private means. 

The Normal School usually admits pupils at from fifteen 



Teachers and their Training. 185 

to seventeen, after they have passed through the Grammar 
Grades, and takes them through a four years' High School 
course. During the last year or two they are instructed 
in the science of teaching, and have a certain, though 
usually small amount of practical work in the attached 
practice-school. 

A few insist on a higher standard for entrance, only 
taking as students graduates of a High School, and spend 
more time on practical work ; while in other cases the High 
and Normal Schools are combined. Philadelphia may be 
taken as an example of the latter. This institution is of 
large proportions, there being, I was informed, about 2,200 
pupils in attendance at the time of my visit. This number 
of course includes the practice departments, consisting of 
two model Kindergartens of about fifty pupils each, and 
between five and six hundred boys and girls in primary and 
grammar grades. The first three years of the Normal 
School would be more correctly called the Girls' High 
School, as the course of study is similar to those pursued in 
the High Schools of other cities, and corresponds with the 
Boys' High School of Philadelphia itself. Pupils have to 
pass an examination before entering the school. As a rule 
candidates must have graduated in a grammar school a year 
previously and have spent one year in the post-graduate class. 
I had the pleasure of questioning one of these post-graduate 
grammar school classes on several subjects, including the 
United States Constitution, and concluded that if they 
exercise their reasoning powers as logically and clearly on 
ordinary occasions, the Normal teachers have good material 
on which to work. 

The course extends over four years, during the last of 
which those who have elected to graduate in the Normal 
class spend the greater portion of their time either at 
practice work, or in studying the science of teaching. Six 
weeks are spent in the practice school with one class. 



1 86 Teaching in Three Continents. 

During the first two the student observes, durmg the 
second " fortnight she assists the regular teacher, and for 
two weeks takes complete charge of the class under the 
eye of the critic teacher. I heard the principal of the 
Kindergarten Normal Training Department lecture to fifty 
students on " How to show the Children the way Seeds 
Grow." It was one of the many treats I had in the 
schools. 

She supposed that the children being Kindergarteners 
would be unable to read or write ; but simply to see, do, and 
reason. They were to see the seeds from day to day 
sprouting on moist flannel, porous earthenware, or damp 
sand. Each child would see his own seeds swell and burst 
as the first and then the second sprout began to show. He 
would watch the growth, and find some having two seed- 
leaves, and some only one. This and much more was to be 
shown in the most simple and natural way. The children 
were to be trained, educated, or rather were to be put in 
the position to do this themselves under tender guidance. 
The theory exactly agreed with the practical work I had 
so often been delighted with in the American Kinder- 
gartens. 

No inspector goes once a year to endeavour to measure 
off the amount of intellectual development made by the 
child-flowers in the child-garden. They grow, but you can- 
not say just where they have increased. Every part of the 
plant develops, and you see it is not the same as a month 
before ; but you cannot say just where the difference is, for 
it is everywhere. So with the child. 

The Normal students have a course of cookery; but 
not with the idea of each student teaching it, for although 
the subject is included in the Philadelphian schools it is 
taken by special teachers. It is rather a part of the school 
course, which also includes the theory and practice of 
music, and the history and psychology of education. 



Teachers and their Training. 187 

I was particularly struck with the importance attached 
to giving every student a knowledge of the theory of 
Kindergarten, together with six weeks' practice in the 
methods. In this, Philadelphia, Boston, Cook County, 
and many other Normal Schools, are surely guarding 
against the weakness of St. Louis, where the Kinder- 
garten in itself has made the greatest headway. The 
principle is becoming everywhere more and more admitted 
that, while the first portion of a child's education should 
be Kindergarten pure and simple, no time can be fixed 
when it may be said that Kindergarten must give way 
to other methods. This is the mistake in St. Louis. The 
better institutions try to turn out Kindergarteners who shall 
understand the after-education, and primary and grammar 
teachers who understand Kindergarten. 

The attention given to physical exercises is a very 
noticeable feature in the Philadelphia, as in many other 
American High Schools. 

Another feature of this, as of other Normal Schools I 
visited, is that it contains an excellent library with a regular 
librarian constantly in attendance. I invariably found that 
these libraries were well used. The rooms are well provided 
with tables and comfortable chairs — but this follows as a 
matter of course, for seats are always made for comfort in 
America — and I often found all occupied. The building 
and its fittings are palatial. 

The '■' recitations " (oral lessons or lectures) which I 
listened to during a somewhat lengthy visit, were excellent ; 
and the practical results of the demonstrations in cookery 
were eminently satisfactory, and an eloquent prophecy of 
good dinners in some future homes. 

I believe not one-third of the pupils who enter the 
school, graduate in the teachers' class, and probably many 
of those do not teach. It may be interesting to show the 
course of study. 





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Teachers and their Training. 189 

Cook County. 

One of the most interesting of the public institutions 
for the training of teachers, which I visited, was Cook 
County Normal School, at Chicago, under Colonel F. W. 
Parker. Its interest lies in the fact that the Colonel holds 
decided views, and has splendid opportunities of putting 
them into practice. The building is not of the most 
modern American type ; but is fairly well adapted to 
its purpose. The establishment, besides the Normal School 
proper, contains a Kindergarten, and all grades of Primary, 
Grammar, and High Schools, so that the future teachers 
become acquainted with every part of the school course. 

Some of the students take the High School course 
before the Normal ; but the majority are attracted from 
more distant parts, often from other States, by the colonel's 
fame as a reformer. The Faculty are all men and women of 
advanced views, and established reputations as teachers ; so 
that the school is looked on as a hotbed of Radicalism even 
in the West, where new ideas take root like European weeds 
in Australian fields. 

I paid a number of visits to the school. One special 
feature, I noted, is the attention paid to science, the 
teaching being thoroughly experimental and practical, with 
a view to its being taught to pupils not as facts, but as an 
education in observation, and love for nature. 

The institution possesses a fine Natural History Museum, 
which bears distinctive evidences of being well used ; but 
more interesting still were the small collections of specimens 
in each room. 

The primary grades were under a lady happily possessed 
of one of the most wonderfully expressive faces I have seen. 
Kindness, power, and tenderness were equally shown ; and 
her manner of dealing with the children was so diversified 
that she apparently treated no two children alike, although 



190 Teaching in Three Continents. 

there were perhaps forty in the class. In the room of the 
first grade was a cage with a pair of squirrels, whose antics 
were most interesting. They belonged to the children, who 
were able to tell me, in their own pretty way, very much of 
the habits and life of these forest economists. On the teacher's 
desk were several tumblers upside-down, enclosing cocoons 
of various kinds which had been spun in the room ; while on 
the table were boxes with caterpillars feeding on fresh. leaves 
of the tree or bush on which they were found. These had 
been brought in by the children, who were only allowed to 
do so on condition that they bring a regular supply of fresh 
food. 

I had a favourable opportunity of judging the lady's 
mode of dealing with these specimens ; for one morning 
a child brought in a caterpillar on which were a number of 
tiny cocoons. This was passed round for the children to 
look at. The majority said they had seen the same 
kind of caterpillar; but they were puzzled by the white 
silky egg-like attachments, although several said they 
looked like cocoons, about which they had evidently had 
some talk. The teacher then told, in the form of a simple 
story, how, ^' while the caterpillar was feeding quietly on a 
bush, a little fly came flitting along ; and, seeing the soft 
leaf-eater, settled on him ; and, with a sharp weapon made 
for the purpose, pierced a number of holes in the poor 
caterpillar's back and sides, and in each laid a tiny egg. 
Then she flew away — perhaps to do the same to another 
before she died. The caterpillar, perhaps, never felt 
her; but in a short time the tiny eggs hatched, and out 
of each came a small grub. These fed on the flesh of the 
poor caterpillar, which ate more and more ravenously; 
but only to feed the grubs, which, after they had grown 
to their full size, came out and spun the small silk cocoons, 
and went to sleep inside. You see, the poor caterpillar 
looks very sickly compared to this one having no cocoons ; 



Teachers and their Training. 191 

but as Nellie has brought some leaves, we will put him 
in this box, to see what becomes of him and his load 
of cocoons." The children had from time to time supplied 
information, and now several were eager to carry the story 
further, and anticipated the result of the experiment by 
saying that the sleeping grub or chrysalis in the little 
cocoon would change into the same sort of tiny fly as 
the one that laid the eggs in the caterpillar. This was 
noted, and the specimen put aside to see whether the 
speculations would prove to be correct, and, if so, that the 
appearance of this wonderful little fly might be noted. 

That this took place as an ordinary occurrence I am 
sure, for no one knew I would be there ; and the pupils 
appeared quite used to the kind of discussion, and very 
greatly to enjoy it. 

I need hardly say that the intelligence of these children 
was wonderful, even for America. I have omitted to 
mention that the new words used in the chat were written 
on the blackboard, and impressed on the minds of the 
pupils. This is, indeed, part of the system of reading 
followed. The children learn to read scrip first by the 
look-and-say method ; and their writing proceeds hand-in- 
hand with the reading, the process being the real thing, 
the written symbol of the thing, reproducing the symbol 
on the slate. The Colonel's pupils would be behind 
those of an English Voluntary, or Board School, at an 
examination in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; but in 
intelligence, mental activity, general knowledge — or, in 
other words, in education — the English children would be 
far inferior. 

The mode of teaching drawing is different from any- 
thing I saw in operation elsewhere, although the principle 
is not novel, having been advocated by more than one 
writer on education. The children, instead of drawing 
lines, or even objects, with pencil, are provided with 



192 Teaching in Three Continents. 

paints and brushes, with which they try to reproduce 
simple objects, such as leaves, fruit, etc. Drawing was 
on the time-table for the second day of my visit, and I 
saw three classes endeavouring to produce pictures of 
cucumbers. The children had all brought cucumbers, 
which first served as the subject for the day's observation, 
or object lesson. There were large cucumbers, small, long 
green, curly yellow, smooth, rough — all shapes and sizes : 
every variety seemed to be represented. One lesson which 
I listened to was being given by one of the staff, and I 
have seldom heard a better. In another room the class 
was divided into groups of six or seven, each under a 
student. I passed from one to another. Many of the 
groups were teaching their teachers ; others were being 
lectured to j others were giving and receiving knowledge 
in a way to delight anyone able to appreciate true teaching. 
After chatty lessons on the things themselves came the 
drawing. It is difficult to decide as to the value of this 
exercise. The pupils were unmistakably interested, and 
that is saying much. There was no difficulty in deciding 
what the majority of the pictures were meant for; a few 
were very good, while some might have represented many 
things, but it would require the imagination of an American 
newspaper interviewer to imagine that they were intended 
for cucumbers. 

It was interesting to note that the little children showed 
as great — if not greater — an aptitude for this work as the 
normal students, for whom I should mention there was in 
addition a good course of clay modelling and drawing from 
model and cast — in fact art-work. 

Unlike most American schools for the training of 
teachers, a residence hall constitutes part of the establish- 
ment, affording accommodation for the students from a 
distance. The school is free to residents of Cook County, 
Illinois ; but others have to pay tuition fees. The library 



Teachers axd their Training. 193 

lias between six and seven thousand volumes, and there is 
a library for the children of nearly two thousand volumes. 

The tuition fees above mentioned are devoted to the 
purchase of books and apparatus. There is a novel feature 
of the library which deserves special description. It is called 
the Newspaper Cyclopaedia, and is worthy of imitation, 
especially in England and Australia, where the newspapers 
— although heavy and lacking in the bright, racy, not to 
mention the sensational character of American — are, as 
a rule, more reliable and of a higher literary merit. It 
originated in the ordinary newspaper scrap-book, which 
in Mrs. Parker's hands assumed such proportions that 
a fresh plan had to be adopted for keeping the extracts 
in such a manner that they might be accessible and easy of 
reference. At first a series of pigeon-holes was employed, 
each numbered and devoted to a given subject, the 
clippings being mounted on sheets of stout manilla paper 
ten inches by four inches. This arrangement became 
insufficient, and a handsome case of patent American letter 
files was procured, containing a large number of drawers 
or files, each with a device for attaching a cord in front with 
the index of contents. 

The subjects are arranged under between thirty and 
forty numbered heads, each head having lettered subheads. 

For example. No. xiii. Geography, has the subheads {a) 
Contents, {h) Islands, {c) Oceans, id) Climate, {e) Deserts, (/) 
Cities and Towns, {g) Explorations, {h) Children's Stories, &c., 
&c. When a clipping is made relating, say, to an explorer, 
it is pasted on a sheet of manilla paper and numbered 
'"'' xiii. (g) Exploration^' and placed in its proper file. 

Normal Schools at Washington^ D.C. 

Washington has two Normal Schools, the one for 
coloured, the other for white students. In the former a 
"Recitation" on temporary organisation was in progress 

N 



194 Teach I XG in Three Continents. 

at the time of my visit ; and as it will throw light on the 
character of the small " ungraded " schools, I will include 
the substance of the Principal's remarks. After a prelim- 
inary discussion on organisation, in its wider sense, which 
subject had evidently been dealt with before, she proceeded 
to explain that by temporary organisation is meant the 
means taken during the first fortnight after the opening of a 
school to facilitate the work of both teacher and pupil. 
At the opening of the school on the first day, the teacher 
should allow the pupils to w^alk into the school and take 
places wherever they feel inclined, she welcoming them 
with pleasant words, and such actions as will make them 
feel at home. No rules of order should be laid down at 
first, and no definite instruction attempted ; but the time 
should be taken up with interesting lessons, which will make 
the pupils like the school. As they begin to feel at home, 
endeavour to find out what they know, their dispositions, 
and capabilities, which, with the ages, will form the basis of 
a proper classification. As soon as the pupils are classified, 
the teacher should construct her programme, and never fail 
to remember that it should be a contract between her and 
her pupils, upon the faithful keeping of which much of her 
success as a character-builder will depend. I need not 
deal further with the lecture. Probably few English or 
Australian training college students have had such advice 
given them. The students varied in colour and type from 
the true negro to several who scarcely showed any traces of 
negro blood. They were bright and intelligent in appear- 
ance ; and their answers were suggestive of thought and 
culture. All had graduated in the City High School, and 
had been selected from a large number of applicants by 
examination. 

The school for white students is conducted in a similar 
manner. The best forty graduates of the High School, who 
wish to become teachers, are selected by examination. 



Teachers and their Training. 195 

These spend a year in the Normal School, in connection 
with which there are eight practical classes, or schools, as 
the rooms are oddly called in Washington. These eight 
classes are taught exclusively by the students under the 
guidance of practised teachers. No academic work is done. 
" By way of review, and in order that the pupils may see 
each subject to be taught as an entirety, so that they may 
be able to see the relation of every part of the subject to 
the whole and to every other part, a logical review is made 
by each student of each subject in the school course. 
These are constructed from the teacher's standpoint, with 
the idea of giving uppermost, whereas previously getting 
had been the object." Considerable time is devoted to 
psychology, and the science and history of teaching, while 
the details and methods of school work are learned in con- 
nection with the practice work, which extends through the 
whole eight grades of the elem.entary school course. 

This appeared to me to be the best system of training 
which came under my notice. 



N 2 



CHAPTER VIII. 



SUPPLEMENTARY MEANS FOR TRAINING 
TEACHERS. 

Teachers' Institutes.— Majority of American Teachers not Normal 
Graduates. — Reason for Frequent Changes.— The Institute an 
American Development.— Professor McGrew's Plan. — Scope of the 
Institute. — Frequency in Indiana. — Principles forming Basis of 
Institute. — Proposal to make Work continuous from Year to Year. 

Teachers' Associations. — Voluntary Organisations under Various Names 
for Various Objects. — Frequency in America. — Round Tables. — 
National Edvication Association. — State Associations. 

RhodeIslandInstitute.— Its Subscriptions Subsidised.— Programme.— 
Committee on Resolutions. — On Necrology. — Punctuality. — Influence 
of Meetings. — Attendance of Public Beneficial. 

Teachers' Guilds. — Not so strong as American Associations. — National 
Association for Promotion of Technical Education. — National Educa- 
tional Association. — Not Organised by Teachers. — Industrial Educa- 
tion of New York. — Liverpool Teachers' Guild. — Objects. — Notes of 
Meeting and Paper on Technical Education. 

Teachers' Associations in Australia.— South Australian Teachers' 
Superannuation and Widows' Fund. 

Teachers' Reading Circles. — Objects.— How worked.— Diplomas.— 
Specimen Courses of Reading. — Chairs of Pedagogics. 

Summer Schools for Teachers.— Private Establishments.— Natural 
under American Conditions of Life. — How worked. — Work and Recrea- 
tion. — A Summer Normal School. — A Programme of Work. 

Pedagogical Libraries and Museums.— Germany and France ahead.— 
Absence in England and Australia. — Musde Pedagogique of Paris. — 
Scope of work.— Library and Museum of Bureau of Education, Wash- 
ington. 

Influence of Auxiliary Means.— Not a Substitute but a Supple- 
ment. — Good Teaching in Small Schools. 



Supplementary Means for Training 197 

teachers' institutes. 

There is, fortunately for the progress of the schools, no 
pupil teacher system in America. Setting children to teach 
children is now almost, if not entirely, confined to the 
British Empire. But let them not hastily claim superiority. 
Speaking generally, the Normal Schools in the various 
States do not provide more than a very small proportion — 
in Pennsylvania, about one-fifth of the vacancies are filled 
with trained teachers — of the number of teachers required 
each year, although there are large centres, like St. Louis, 
where nearly all are Normal graduates. This is not at all 
surprising in a country where such a large number are 
ladies, many of whom only devote their energies to " keep- 
ing school," until opportunity offers for " keeping house "j 
and where so many teach for a time to accomplish a 
purpose, which, being attained, they draft off into other 
work. Speaking of this subject the United States superin 
tendent says : — " Leaving out the much-canvassed fact tha t 
about 70 per cent, of the attendance at the Normal Schools 
of the country are females, and that their assumption of the 
marriage relation involves their withdrawal from the profes- 
sion of teaching, we find that with men it is merely used in 
many cases as an expedient to a better and more lucrative 
employment, not to say profession. It is evident that a 
talented lawyer, physician, or theologian, is socially and 
financially of much more account than a talented school- 
master. Thus we are constantly reminded that the interest 
that each has for his own advancement and reward, is not 
suspended in the case of the profession of teaching; that 
ability will not see itself passed in the struggle for reputa- 
tion and wealth, content because doing good : for that is a 
celestial, not a business, virtue." 

England has 27,000 untrained pupil teachers. America 
has a far greater proportion of men and women in her 



19^ Teaching in Three Continents. 

schools, who have not had the advantages of systematic 
training. Formerly the proportion of untrained teachers 
was much greater than it is now. To meet the wants of 
these, special means have been adopted. The chief of 
these is the Teachers' Institute, a purely and distinctly 
American development ; but one which is worthy of con- 
sideration at the hands of both English and Australian 
educators, to supplement the training which the teachers 
have received, and counteract the tendency to " vegetate," 
to which teachers with little ambition and a life certificate 
are undoubtedly subject. The permanency of the teacher's 
position in England, and more particularly in Australia, 
where he is a Civil Servant, and virtually sure of his 
position — or a better one — for life, unless he grossly 
neglects his duty, certainly has the tendency to induce a 
feeling that further efforts in the direction of study of 
methods and the science of teaching are unnecessary. It 
seems to me that an adaptation of the American Institute 
would be as practicable as beneficial. The American 
superintendents are handicapped by the lack of authority ; 
but they do splendid work in promoting the intelligence of 
the teaching. The English Education Department, clothed 
in all the dignity of authority, has not yet thought fit to 
assume other functions than those of an organisation for 
the distribution of money. I know that Her Majesty's 
Inspectors are gentlemen of wide attainments; but am 
unable to say whether they usually have the qualifications 
needed to conduct such gatherings as I have mentioned. 
In Australia the conditions more nearly resemble those of 
America ; and the plan would be more readily adopted. In 
fact, when the new course of study came into operation in 
South Australia, some years since, meetings of much the 
same character, and for the same purpose, were held through- 
out the colony ; and one, at least, of the inspectors has con- 
tinued to hold meetino^s of a similar character ever since. 



Supplementary Means for Training. 199 

Superintendent Draper, of New York, with ot'ners, 
thinks that, however desirable, it is not practicable to obtain 
teachers trained after the usual plan for the rural schools. 
At the same time, it is necessary that they should be in 
charge of only those who have had some definite training. 
" It is hopeless to expect that the time and money involved 
in pursuing a Normal School course will be given in order 
to obtain the salary of a district teacher." He advocates 
that " normal work of a lower grade, less in extent and 
nearer the homes of the people, must be had before the 
needs of the rural schools are supplied." Until this is 
done, the Institutes must be the chief means by which 
any special training is acquired. 

Professor C. H. McGrew, occupying the Chair of 
" Educational Psychology, Science and Art of Teaching," 
at the University of the Pacific, California, is one of the 
leading advocates of what appears, in view of the special 
conditions of the country and the long vacations, one of 
the best plans for improving the professional knowledge of 
teachers. The custom now is, in most States, to hold the 
week's Institute during school terms, the schools being 
specially closed for the purpose. Only in this way can the 
best men be got to conduct more than a few. 

Says the Professor : — ^" We need a four weeks' Normal 
Institute system, making the county and county super- 
intendency prominent factors. . . . Our Normal Institutes 
should be short-term professional training schools, held 
during the summer and winter vacations. A professional 
course of study of three or four years should be prepared 
by the State Superintendent or State Board, and should be 
general, and definite, and so flexible that it can be adjusted 
to the varying conditions and needs in different countries, 
and at the same time secure a sufficient degree of uni- 
formity. It should provide for a completion of the course 
by teachers, and some legal recognition of such work by 



200 Teaching in Three Continents. 

authorities, thus stimulating attendance, and forming a class 
of teachers for our common schools. Model classes in 
Kindergarten, primary teaching, and other grades, should 
be maintained free to the children of the town where the 
Institute is held, thus furnishing the best illustrations of the 
new methods." 

This is but broadening and extending that present 
Institute system which is such an important factor in 
American education. In Dakota, for example, the De- 
partment of Public Instruction has arranged for two 
courses of Institutes a year — one in the autumn and one in 
the spring, during the holiday when the schools of the Institute 
m-e dosed. 

The Department appoints a conductor and assistants, who 
act as instructors. The Institute is not a school, and academic 
instruction is a secondary object. The teacher is expected 
to have acquired the matter. The object of the Institute is 
to help teachers, especially those of the country, to improve 
their methods. 

" In brief, the object is : — 

1. To increase efficiency by giving 

{a) A distinct idea of the ends of education. 

{b) Elementary knowledge of the science of teaching. 

{c) Instruction in methods. 

2. To secure greater uniformity 

{a) By discussion. 

{b) By professional co-operation. 

3. To correct prevailing errors." 

This latter is a responsible undertaking, since what 
constitutes an error is usually a matter of opinion. 

The Institute is usually held in a hall spacious enough 
to contain a large number of visitors, whose presence is 
invited. It was a constant matter of surprise to me, to 
find the interest which the public took in these assemblies. 
The far-reaching influence of this fact needs more than a 



Supplementary Means for Training. 201 

passing notice. It is stated, with truth, that many of those 
taking charge of small schools, or even receiving appoint- 
ments as class teachers, have had no professional training 
in the art of teaching, and to supply this want is one of 
the purposes of the Institutes. It must not be forgotten, 
however, that in all probability the lady thus receiving her 
first appointment has been in the habit of attending 
Teachers' Institutes — -perhaps as a mere idle listener: 
but she has become familiar with the questions dealt 
with in the meetings. An " untrained " American teacher 
must not be compared to an untrained teacher elsewhere. 
In consequence of these Institutes, the public at large have 
such an intelligent knowledge of the principles of teaching, 
that one who has never taught before enters upon her work 
with a generally correct, concise, and intelligent idea of what 
to teach, and how to teach it. 

In the announcements respecting Institutes, made by 
one Superintendent, "it is particularly requested that those 
who have any intention of becoming teachers will endeavour 
to attend as many of the meetings as possible, and special 
attention will be given to 'First weeks at School.'" Parents 
too are able to understand that the teacher is more than a 
mere instructor ; their attention is drawn to the schools ; 
their interest in education is stimulated ; while the trustees 
and members of school committees are the better able to 
fulfil their duties. Special means are often adopted to 
enlist the sympathies and support of the people of the 
towns in which Institutes are held. Morning and afternoon 
sessions will be held devoted to more purely educational 
subjects ; and in the evening a lecture on some general 
topic having a more or less direct bearing on education. 
Often lecturers are brought from long distances to address 
Institutes ; and thus the interchange of ideas between one 
State and another is promoted. 

In consequence of the success of a regular programme 



202 Teaching in Three Continents. 

of work in connection with her country Institutes, Indiana 
has enacted that : — 

" At least one Saturday in each month, during which 
the pubhc schools may be in progress, shall be devoted to 
township Institutes or model schools for the improvement 
of teachers." More than four thousand of these were held 
during the year. 

The following principles are laid down as a basis on 
which Institutes should be conducted : — 

For the meeting place the hall of a school-house, if one is available, 
is iDctter than a court-room, public hall, or church, which have neither 
the apparatus nor the " atmosphere " of a school. 

The meeting should begin promptly on Monday. Two instructors 
should be employed, and six or at most seven daily lessons of forty 
minutes each is all that should be given. Certain definite lines of 
thought should Ije adopted on Monday, and carried through the week, 
thus giving opportunity to present a series of connected lessons. It 
should be understood that the country Institute is a professional meet- 
ing, entertainment being incidental, and that it is not a place for 
academic work. 

The professional features are the History of Education, the Science 
of Education, Methods of Primary Instruction in the various grades, 
School Management, Moral Instruction, and Psycholog)^ 

The paper from which the above is taken proceeds to 
show in what way education is and is not a science. 

" It is not a science in the way that arithmetic, algebra, 
&c., are sciences, for it lacks the inherent necessity which 
makes these subjects pure sciences. It is held that educa- 
tion is a science in the view that it is possible to ground 
all the work of the school-room on rationally determined 
principles. The processes, and all the concrete work of 
school instruction, management, discipline, class manipula- 
tion, rest on principles. 

" These ideas, generalisations, reasons, principles, when 
brought together and organised into coherent form, consti- 
tute the Science of Education. 

"This science considers the subjects of study in the 



Supplementary Means for Training. 203 

school in three related aspects : — First, the educational 
value of each ; second, the true order of sequence among 
the studies of the course ; and third, the methodology 
appropriate to the different stages of each." 

The manner in which it is possible to present the 
Science of Education before the teachers in a count)' 
Institute, so that they shall be able to grasp it, and base 
their actual work upon it, is discussed. It is held that it 
cannot be done in the time at the disposal of the Institute. 
The works of various writers — Locke, Bacon, Rousseau, 
Pestalozzi, Herbert Spencer, Herbart, and others — are 
mentioned as having to be studied to accomplish that. 

A good deal may be done to induce teachers to read 
some of these works by drawing attention to them in the 
Institute. 

" The Science of Education does not deal with receipts, 
prescriptions, and rules ; it sets forth ideas, general judg- 
ments, reasons, principles. It must do this in the Institute; 
do it to be sure in the best way, suitable to the conditions 
existing." 

The Michigan State Superintendent thinks that the idea 
of the Institute is "more to suggest the method than to 
make an exhaustive study and application." 

Considering the Institute is composed of a somewhat 
promiscuous assemblage of men and women, in a great 
measure unknown to one another and to the instructors, 
and that they meet for the space of from one to two weeks, 
there will probably be little difficulty in accepting his 
statement. 

In New York a plan has been adopted of making the 
work continuous from year to year for three or four years. 

In some States there is a rule to the effect that certifi- 
cates to teach will not be granted to persons who do not 
attend the Institutes. 

The significance of this statement will be understood 



204 Teaching in Three Continents. 

by English or Australian readers, who are acquainted with 
the peculiar system of granting certificates in vogue in many 
States, in which, as I have explained elsewhere, the diploma 
to teach is renewed at periods varying from a year to ten 
years according to grade. 



CHAIRS OF PEDAGOGICS. 

Chairs in the Science and Art of Education are now 
being established in a few of the better colleges and uni- 
versities in various States. This is considered a hopeful 
sign, indicating a tendency to raise the art of teaching to 
a profession — a consummation, which, however desirable, will 
not be realised until the period of service is very much ex- 
tended, and teachers take to the work in the same way as 
members of the other professions, as a life work. It should 
be the most honoured of professions ; it will be, when public 
sentiment is further educated, and teachers themselves en- 
force its recognition by their absolute worth. The advocates 
of the new Professorships disclaim competition with the 
Normal Colleges, the aim of which is to train for the 
practical work of teaching no less than to teach the prin- 
ciples on which it is based. The idea is that the University 
should train educators, who would in turn create and mould 
educational sentiment. It should provide trained super- 
intendents and professors for the Normal schools, who, in 
turn, would provide the schools with teachers. 

teachers' associations. 

Under names as various as their constitutions, teachers 
in all countries where education has made headway, have 
formed organisations for their professional, social, or finan- 
cial improvement. Pedagogical Societies are very numerous 
and important in Germany, and perhaps hardly less so in 



Supplementary Means for Training. 205 

the United States ; while in the British Isles and Australia 
they are doing admirable work. The most desirable, and 
certainly the most general, objects of the Societies — be they 
Teachers' Associations, Teachers' Guilds, Pedagogical 
Societies, Clubs, or Round Tables — is professional improve- 
ment. They are a recognition of John Stuart Mill's 
question: — "What does anyone's personal knowledge of 
things amount to, after subtracting nil which he has 
acquired by means of the words of other people ? " and an 
endeavour to answer it. In a few cases only, as far as I 
could learn, do they take up questions of educational 
politics. This is well, although there are times when a 
decided expression of opinion from those who, next to the 
pupils, will be most affected by a change of policy may be 
desirable. Still more necessary is it that practical educators 
should study the psychological basis of every proposal to 
effect changes in Educational Legislation. Teachers are as 
a rule very conservative, and it is therefore likely that the 
ideas of the few progressive spirits who are usually at the 
head (or " at the bottom " !) of every educational reform 
are more trustworthy guides than those of the majority of 
teachers, who perhaps as frequently retard as advance pro- 
gressive movements. 

In America, each town appears to have its flourishing 
Association. Sometimes these give prominence to the 
social aspect, and are known as Clubs or Schoolmasters' 
" Round Tables." The various towns often combine in a 
county association, and the counties in a larger organisation 
comprising the whole State ; while the leading educators in 
every State of the Union have united to form the largest, 
if not the most important, organisation of the kind in 
existence. 

The National Educational Association has for its objects, 
" To elevate the character, and advance the interests of the 
profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular 



2o6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

education in the United States." It has nine departments, 
and a National Council of Education: — i. School Super- 
intendence ; 2, Normal Schools ; 3, Elementary Schools ; 
4, Higher Instruction ; 5, Industrial Education ; 6, Art 
Education ; 7, Kindergarten Instruction ; 8, Music Educa- 
tion ; 9, Secondary Education. Additional departments may 
be formed. The qualifications for membership are very 
broad. It holds an annual convention in July of each year, 
which is attended by thousands of members and friends, 
the largest hall or opera house being engaged for the 
meetings. Its annual volume, of proceedings ranging from 
seven to nine hundred pages, is a highly interesting addition 
to current educational literature. 

The State Associations are usually organised in depart- 
ments, the most frequent being the Department of Super- 
intendents, High School Department, and Primary and 
Grammar Departments. The School Superintendents have 
an association for the discussion of matters coming more 
particularly in their sphere of work as directors of Educa- 
tion. I had a volume of their proceedings given me which 
had been pubHshed as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education, 
and found its contents able contributions to the discussion 
of the current educational topics of the day. 

RHODE ISLAND INSTITUTE. 

The largest and best meeting of teachers I attended was 
the annual gathering of the Rhode Island Institute of 
Instruction. It differed from the " Institute " proper, which 
is an of^cial gathering convened bya Superintendent, in being 
a voluntary gathering of Educators. The nearest approach 
to it in England, of which I had any personal acquaint- 
ance, were the Teachers' Guilds. The nearest Australian 
equivalent is the Teachers' Association. The subscription 
is very small, being a dollar for male and fifty cents for 



Supplementary Means for Training, 207 

female members : but the State Board of Education supple- 
ments the subscriptions by a vote. The various Super- 
intendents of Schools allowed the teachers to close their 
schools for two days on condition that they attend the 
Institute. Superintendent Tarbell, of Providence, informed 
me that out of four hundred teachers in the city, he only 
excused eight from attending. There were altogether about 
eight hundred teachers present, and the attendance varied 
from a thousand to between two and three thousand — 
the largest attendance being at the evening meetings. 

Believing it will be of interest, I shall quote the pro- 
gramme for 1889, omitting names of essayists, and personal 
references. 

First vSession. — Thursday jSIgrning. — Higher Department. 

lo.o. Devotional Exercises. Music. 

10.15. Historical Teaching in Schools. 

10.45. Discussion. Opened by . 

1 1. 15. Literary Culture in Secondary Schools. 

11.45. Discussion. 

12.10. Opening of Industrial Exhibition. — While the kindred indus- 
trial subjects of Kindergarten, Drawing, and Manual 
Training will receive thoughtful consideration during one 
whole session of the Institute, special efforts have also been* 
made to place before teachers and educators a carefully 
arranged exhibition of such industrial work as is now being 
done in the various schools of the State. A careful ex- 
amination of this exhibit will greatly aid every teacher in 
arranging more systematic and practical work for his pupils. 

Thursday Afternoon. 

Grammar and Primary Department. 

2.30. Elementary Science in Grammar and Primary Schools. 

3.0. Discussion. 

3.25. Report of Directors of Reading Circle. 

3.35. Why do our pupils fail in Arithmetic ? 

Illustrative Class exercises from Primary and Grammar Grades, 

4.25. Discussion. 

4.45. Adjournment. 



2o8 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Thursday Evening. 

7.45. Organ Recital. 

Lecture. Memories of the English Lakes. 

Friday Morning. 

1 0.0. Devotional Exercises. Music. 

10,15. The Recitation. 

10.45. Discussion. 

1 1. 15. Morals in Public Schools. 

11.45. Discussion. 

12.30. Adjournment. 

Friday Afternoon. 

2.30. Kindergarten, as related to Public School Work. 

2.50. Drawing, as related to Public School Work. 

3. 10. Manual Training, as related to Public School Work. 

3.35. Kindergarten, Drawing, and Manual Training as related to each 
other. 

4.0. Discussion. 

4.45. Adjournment. 

5.0. Social Assembly. — Between the Afternoon and Evening Sessions 
of P'riday, October 25, the members of the Institute will 
meet in Social Assembly in the Infantry Drill Hall. At 
5.45 a collation will be served. Never before have so com- 
plete and satisfactory arrangements been made for a social 
time, and no teacher in the State can, without personal loss, 
forego the pleasure and enthusiasm of this gathering. The 
Chairman of the Social Committee will act as Toastmaster. 

Friday Evening. 
7.45. Music. 

Address. His Excellency Governor Ladd. 
Address. His Honour Mayor Barker, Providence. 

Music. 
vSchool Legislation. Commissioner of Public Schools. 

Music. 
Public School Work in Large Cities. — vSuperintendent of Pul)lic 
Instruction, New York. 

Saturday Morning. 
10. o. Devotional Exercises. Music. 



SurPLE3IEXTARV MeANS FOR TRAINING. 209 

10.15. The Troublesome Boy. 

10.45. Discussion. 

1 1. 15. Our Profession. 

11.45. Discussion. 

12. 10. Reports of Committees and Election of Officers. 

12.45. Adjournment. 

The business is carefully sub-divided and in charge of 
various committees, two of which are, I think, peculiarly 
American — the Committees on Necrology, and Resolutions. 
The custom of placing the management of resolutions 
seems a good one, and likely, not only to facilitate the 
despatch of business, but to add to the harmony of the 
meetings. 

The custom of delivering orations, preparing extensive, 
high-sounding resolutions, or memoirs on the death of 
members, does not commend itself Like all matters con- 
nected with this solemn subject, it is a matter of custom, 
and its force depends on one's conception of the fitness of 
things. They are not needed to add to the sincere, loving, 
and affectionate remembrance of friends. They can do the 
departed no good, so that it is difficult to conceive of their 
purpose. 

Nevertheless, " Committee on Necrology " sounds well, 
and, like many other innocent gratifications of the inherent 
love of distinction in a land where the patronage of nobility 
cannot be secured, may well be passed over. It, too, 
will no doubt pass away in time. 

I attended all the meetings, and was particularly struck 
with the remarkably business-like way in which they were, 
conducted. Not once in the three days did the interest 
flag. Time was rigidly kept. Finished or not, a speaker 
must give way when his time was up. The value of this 
rule in inculcating the habit of speaking in the most concise 
and forcible way, is evident at all meetings. This is my 
opinion comparing with what I have usually seen : but 
o 



2IO Teaching in Three Continents. 

while I admired the precision with which business was con- 
ducted, the President thought otherwise, and was annoyed 
at what he called want of punctuality ; and one morning the 
Providence Journal^ which reported most of the papers in 
full, referred to the matter, ironically remarking, '' With the 
customary promptness of the Convention, the afternoon's 
meeting was several minutes behind the schedule time in 
starting. Then several moments slipped away after the first 
rap of the President's gavel, before the last whisperings of 
the ladies were lost in the remote angles of the building." 
The American excels in the conduct of public assemblies, 
and is not satisfied with what pleases another. 

The papers and addresses varied considerably in grasp 
and value ; but were almost without exception well read or 
delivered. The training of children for "commencement," 
and other fete days ensures that. The clear thought and 
stammering speech are not associated in America so fre- 
quently as in England. 

It naturally occurs to one, that with such a variety of 
diversified subjects, either the most palpable superficiality 
will be encouraged, or the mind, unable to bear the con- 
tinuous application for such a time, will be indifferent to 
much that is said. ' To a certain extent this is the case ; 
but it will be noticed that there is always an interval 
between the subjects of like character, and not more than 
two requiring great application follow one another. Also, 
that the morning and afternoon sessions are devoted to 
different departments, and the evening gatherings to sub- 
jects of general interest, with indirect bearing on school 
work. 

But while I considered the work of the convention of 
great direct value in itself, I could not but conclude that 
its chief value was indirect, and must be sought for in the 
inquiry the papers would cause the teachers to make at 
home \ the brightening effect of listening to . the most 



Supplementary Means for Training. 211 

enthusiastic men in the various departments of study ; the 
interchange of ideas among members apart from the papers 
and discussions ; the examination of work exhibited, which, 
while all admit does not represent the average character of 
what would be seen in the schools, at the same time 
indicates a possible degree of excellence ; the bringing 
together and affording a bond of sympathy between 
teachers of all classes of schools, public and private ; the 
training in the forms of public assemblies and general 
business, which a teacher's occupation, even in America, 
although not to the same extent as in England and 
Australia, naturally tends to discourage; and, not less 
important, the general education of the public in school 
work. The newspapers publish the papers in full, and 
find room to report fully the more important discus- 
sions. 

It may be urged that this attendance on the part of the 
public at the meetings of Institutes and Associations of 
teachers, where the object is improvement of the " pro- 
fessional " side of the teacher, is likely to prove a source 
of injury to the direct object in view. The presence of 
people who cannot, in the nature of things, be expected to 
go deeply into the science of education, of necessity proves 
that as a rule the subjects are treated in a superficial manner. 
To that it is replied, that in consequence of the frequency 
of the meetings, and the habit of attending, the public are 
more interested in and able to follow the principles of 
teaching than would naturally be expected. A comparison 
must not be made with other countries, where the District 
System has not been in operation. In the second place, 
a constant and general interest by the many in educa- 
tional questions, is preferable to a deeper knowledge among 
a few; and thirdly, where the many have a superficial 
knowledge, there is the more likelihood of a larger propor- 
tion having a specific, 
o- 2 



212 Teach IXC in Three Continents. 



TEACHERS GUILDS. 

I am not able to speak as fully as I could wish of the 
Teachers' Guilds of England. I was only able to attend a 
few meetings, not one of which was in London. As a rule, 
I believe they lack the life and spirit of American Asso- 
ciations ; and the visitor hears more of the " Interests of 
Teachers " than on the other side of the Atlantic. As a 
rule, I understand only teachers attend, there being no wish 
or attempt to induce the public to take an interest or part 
in the proceedings. The English teachers have to contend 
with a difficulty not felt in America, where the public 
schools are all of one character. There are several kinds 
of elementary schools which are more or less opposed to 
one another, and this tends to prevent the free association of 
the teachers. Then the teachers of the " Better Class 
Schools," as a rule, take little or no interest in the work of the 
Board, or Voluntary Schools, which they consider quite differ- 
ent. Of course there are many broad liberal men who act 
differently, and exercise a wide and powerful influence for 
good ; but, as far as I could learn, what I have stated is 
true of the rank and file. Apart from the influences I have 
named, the effects of training, and the character of the 
school work, influence the attitude of teachers towards 
organisations of the character under discussion. Teachers 
have not yet felt so much need for uniting. 

There are two very important organisations which must 
be mentioned here, although not strictly corresponding to 
those of which I have been speaking. These are the 
National Association for the Promotion of Technical and 
Secondary Education, and the National Educational Associ- 
ation. These are powerful organisations apart altogether 
from the schools, whose objects are to educate the public 
mind to receive, and the legislative mind to grant reforms 
— the one in Technical and Secondary, and the other in 



Supplementary Means for Training. 213 

Elementary Education. Many of the foremost thinkers and 
scholars of England belong to these bodies, and to their 
efforts much of the rapid progress which is being made in 
English education is due. Their methods of work are very 
varied ; but perhaps the chief are the publication of educa- 
tional monographs and tracts, the holding of meetings and 
delivery of addresses, and the constant Parliamentary 
agitation. 

The work of the Industrial Educational Association of 
New York conducts a very similar work of a more limited 
character, and in addition seeks to show the result of its 
theories in practice in its New York College for the 
Training of Teachers. This is a frequent point of difference 
in the methods of work in the two countries. In England 
and Australia legislation is frequently first obtained, the 
experiment made after. In America it is a more common 
thing for private enterprise to first show a theory to be 
practical, and then get legislation on the subject. 

The largest Teachers' Association in England, I was 
informed, is the Liverpool Teachers' Guild, which has a 
membership of between four and five hundred. Its member- 
ship is open to all teachers and to all others interested in 
matters of edtccation ; and its objects are as wide as its 
conditions of membership. Summarised, it may be stated — 
to promote the interests of teachers of all grades, provide 
opportunities for the discussion of educational aiid other 
matters, afford opportunities for social intercourse, to diffuse 
knowledge of means whereby diplomas and degrees may 
be obtained, foster a better 7tnderstanding betiveen teachers 
and the public, to interest all in the work of education, to 
keep an employment register, to form a library of educa- 
tional books, to encourage teachers to make provision for 
old age, and to keep a list of holiday resorts ivhere teachers 
may pass their vacation on reasonable terms. 

I attended one of the ordinary meetings, held in one ot 



214 7 EACH I NG IN ThREE CONTINENTS. 

the lecture halls of University College. There were per- 
haps one hundred and eighty present, fully two-thirds being 
ladies. I was struck with this fresh example of the greater 
average enthusiasm on the part of ladies, especially as the 
subject for the evening, Technical Education, was one 
which more particularly concerned men ; and there is 
no such preponderance of female teachers in England as 
there is in America. Professor Hill Shaw's statement of 
the present condition of thought in England on the much 
debated but unsettled question which is known in England 
as Technical Education, was concise and clear. He said 
people's ideas may be classified under four heads : — 

1. Those who take it to mean teaching of trades. 

2. Those who consider it simply to mean a certain 
amount of manual and science teaching 

{a) To give a better training to eye and hand ; 
{b) As a better preparation for future life. 

3. Many hold that Technical Education means the 
South Kensington course in science and arts. 

4. Probably the majority have a confused idea that it 
includes all these ; and, appalled at the magnitude of the 
conception, wisely say it is impracticable in schools. 

After a highly interesting lecture and discussion, it was 
resolved, " That the teaching of science, manual instruction, 
combined with cooking and laundry work for girls, should 
form part of the instruction in all elementary schools ; that 
every facility should be offered for obtaining instruction of 
all kinds after school hours at the lowest fees ; and that 
boys and girls below a certain age should be encouraged, by 
a judicious system of rewards, to attend classes voluntarily 
after leaving school ; and that Kindergarten training should 
be introduced into all elementary schools." 

At the close of the regular business, the members ad- 
journed upstairs for refreshment, and social intercourse. 
One of the most noticeable features of the work of the 



Supplementary Means for Training. 215 

Guild is the effort made to induce teachers an J fiiends to 
travel during vacation. Last summer, between seventy and 
eighty members joined in an excursion to Florence and 
the Italian lakes, extending over three weeks. 



teachers' associations. 
Australia. 

Teachers' Associations in Australia correspond more nearly 
to the Guilds of England than the organisations of the same 
name in America. They vary considerably as to import- 
ance and influence in different parts ; but generally are but 
poorly supported by the teachers, and no attempt is made 
to induce others to take an interest in the proceedings. 
Unless it be in New South Wales, the teachers of secondary 
schools do not as a rule join with those of the public 
schools, notwithstanding the fact that the secondary institu- 
tions derive their pupils from the public elementary schools, 
and are therefore concerned in the work being done. In 
some of the country districts of South Australia the in- 
spectors make a practice of being present at most of the 
meetings, which approach in character one session of an 
American Institute. 

The South Australian Teachers' Superannuation and 
Widows' Fund, being an outgrowth of the associations, 
deserves notice here. Formerly the Government provided, 
under certain conditions, retiring allowances for all its 
servants. This principle was abolished some years since ; 
but the amount due to each civil servant at the time of the 
passing of the Act was placed to his credit until he should 
leave the service. A study of the principles of life assurance 
made it clear to sortie teachers that, by working in the same 
way, every teacher could, by having a small sum deducted 
from his monthly salary, provide himself with an annuity 



2i6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

when too old to longer remain in the service ; or for his widow, 
in case of death. It was further found that if the Govern- 
ment would hand over the sum standing to the credit of 
any teacher who chose to join the fund, that the managers 
might arrange for the benefits to begin much sooner than 
would otherwise be possible. The concession was granted, 
insurance actuaries were employed to calculate sound tables 
of payments and annuities, and last year the whole arrange- 
ments were successfully completed, so that, to quote from 
the chairman's speech, *' After a period which would prob- 
ably not extend to four years, every member of the fund, in 
case of any calamity, would know that by the operation of 
this fund he would be placed beyond the reach of want ; 
and, in the event of death, an annuity would be assured to 
the wife during her life, to be continued in case of her 
death till the youngest of his children reached the age of 
eighteen years. The fundamental idea was that a man ivho 
joi)ied the teaching staff joined for life, and this fund enabled 
him at the age of sixty years to retire with one hundred and 
forty pounds per annum. Though there was no compulsion 
in the matter, it was calculated that at the age of sixty teachers 
would most probably elect to retire and enjoy their annuity." 
Although it would have been impossible to secure equally 
favourable results but for the action of the Government, 
whose direct servants the teachers are ; yet the fund is the 
result of sound business calculations, and is supported by 
the teachers themselves, and has been perfectly voluntary. 



TEACHERS READING CIRCLES. 

These are private organisations formed for the purpose 
of promoting, by mutual support and sympathy, the special 
reading of the members. They are found in active operation 
in very many American States. Each year carefully selected 
books are chosen, having a more or less direct bearing on 



Supplementary Means for Training. 217 

the teacher's work, and every member procures copies and 
promises to carefully read them in the course of the year. 
The books are procured at reduced price on account of the 
number used. Authorities on the subjects dealt with in the 
books prepare and issue, from time to time, to all members, 
general directions, suggestive hints, critical notes, and so 
forth, which will the better enable them to fully benefit by 
the reading. At the close of the year, questions are sent 
out, by which readers may test themselves on the result of 
their reading. They are expected to send answers to the 
Council for examination, and — this could not very well be 
omitted in America — diplomas are issued to those whose 
papers are satisfactory. The beneficial effects of the reading 
are considered to be very great. Even careful readers find 
the moral obligation to systematically study two or three 
given books thoroughly, to be very beneficial in counter- 
acting the tendency to discursive and purposeless reading. 
The Illinois Teachers' Reading Circle has between four and 
five thousand members. The reading is not confined to 
works on education. Standard literary works are also 
chosen. Here are several courses taken at random from 
different States. 

Ohio. 1887-8. 

I. Pedagogy. — White's " Elements of Pedagogy." 

II. Literature. — Shakespeare's Henry VIIL, and Hawthorne's 
" Twice-Told Tales." 

III. History. — Any brief history of the United States, to be supple- 
mented by the " History of Ohio. (Barnes's " History of the World " 
may be taken as a substitute for the " History of the United States.") 

IV. Gregory's " Political Economy," or Chapin's "First Principles 
of Political Economy." 

Kansas. 

I. Fitch's " Lectures on Teaching," Bain's " Education as a 
Science," Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," Kingsley's "Westward 
Ho !" Merchant of Venice, The Teuipest, Hawthorne's "Grandfather's 
Chair." 



2i8 Teaciiixg in Three Continents. 

The Iowa Circle publish an elective systematic course 
of four years' reading. The works chosen are all of a high 
standard. 

The Indiana Circle appears to confine its attention to 
fewer books each year ; but to devote more attention to a 
thorough study. The critical and illustrative notes which 
are supplied to members are excellent, and the questions 
very searching. In 1888, 556 papers were submitted on 
"The Lights of Two Centuries," and Sully's " Hand-book 
of Psychology." 

The Illinois Circle, with between four and five thousand 
members, is carried on at an annual cost of about five 
hundred dollars. For the year 1889-90 the course of 
reading consists of — "Theory and Practice of Teaching," 
Page ; " Lectures on Pedagogy," Compayre ; " Lights of 
Two Centuries," E. E. Hale. 

I might fill pages with quotations from the numerous 
courses of which I received particulars. The books are 
almost invariably good, if not standard works. In litera- 
ture, Shakespeare and Hawthorne are, undoubtedly, the 
most popular. In the science of teaching. Sully, Fitch, 
Rousseau, Payne, Compayre, appear very popular ; but the 
reading covers such a wide range in this subject that it is 
hard to particularise. 

Referring to the beneficial effect of the Reading Circles, 
State Superintendent Edwin O. Chapman, of New Jersey, 
in his late report says : — " The most encouraging facts to 
be noted are the increased zeal and efficiency of the 
teachers, and these cannot be shown by statistics. They 
are the direct result of the faithful labour of the County 
and City Superintendents in the local Associations^ of the 
7Vork done in the Institutes, and of the honest efforts of the 
teachers themselves. The Teachers' Reading Circle has co?i- 
tributed in no small degree to this improve mefit. It has 
opened new fields for thought and investigation, stimulated 



SirrLEMEATARY MeAXS J' OR Tk.UN/AC 219 

professional zeal, and made the work of the school-room 
less irksome to the teacher and more profitable to the 
pupil." 

Possibly the thought may occur to the reader which 
constantly occurs to me when thinking of the absence of 
what we in England and Australia call training — To what 
extent are we justified in considering men and women as 
" untrained teachers," w^ho have been subject to the indirect 
influences and means of training which I have endeavoured 
to describe ? To watch them at work, they do not show the 
great "lack of training" educators speak of. To hear them 
talk, one would not gather that they w^ere utterly inexperi- 
enced. To consider all the points I have spoken of would 
lead one to believe, that they must have more than a frag- 
mentary knowledge of the proper principles of education. 
From reading the school journals, and the education reports, 
an exactly opposite conclusion must be formed. What are 
we to believe ? I will allow each reader to find an answer 
by analogy. Is the average English teacher as bad as the 
Educational Reformer would have us believe ? Compared 
with the ideal, yes ; on his own merits, no. A considera- 
tion of this subject may possibly suggest a modification of 
the mode of procedure of the said praiseworthy reformers. 



SUMMER SCHOOLS B^OR TEACHERS. 

The Teachers' Institute is an official institution under 
the direction of the school superintendents, or conductors 
appointed by them. The cost is defrayed by the authorities, 
including, in many cases, the whole or part of the teachers' 
expenses. 

Teachers' Associations are voluntary, and are often 
carried out at considerable cost to the teachers ; but 
although educational, do not profess to have for their 
object specific study. 



220 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The Summer School is quite different. It is usually due 
to private enterprise, and is carried on as a source of profit 
by the promoters. It is a combination of health resort, and 
educational establishment. There are Summer Schools of 
all kinds : some held in the woods, others on the moun- 
tains, some at the seaside. Everyone has heard of that 
unique institution known as the Chautauqua University, 
where the holiday keeper may spend his mornings at 
lectures on any conceivable subject, and the rest of the day 
at the usual diversions of a popular resort. Work at an or- 
dinary Summer School is carried on in much the same way, 
but on a less elaborate scale than at Chautauqua. These 
Schools are perfectly natural under the conditions of American 
life, where they are an ordinary development to supply par- 
ticular needs. To try and transplant them to England or 
Australia full grown, would probably be an experiment of 
very questionable success. I doubt if they could flourish 
in any country where the publicity of American life is 
absent : but they are attended by many thousands of 
students in many States. American schools and colleges 
have a vacation of from two to three months. During 
this time many professors accept engagements to deliver 
courses of lectures at one or other of the Summer Schools. 
Arrangements are made months beforehand, and pro- 
grammes well advertised. The combination of educational, 
health, and other attractions, is sometimes decidedly amus- 
ing to one unused to trans-Atlantic methods of mixing 
up the grave and gay, and constantly prove the truth of 
the old adage that " there is but a step from the sublime 
to the ridiculous." What English summer resort can offer 
the combined attractions of sea bathing and lectures on 
laws of health, donkey rides and the study of psychology ; 
an unrivalled promenade, cozy nooks, and an astronomical 
course ; opportunities for fishing alternating with the study 
of zoology ; tennis, and a course in civil government ? 



Si'PPLEMENTARV MeANS FOR TRAINING. 221 

Many people who would otherwise not consider themselves 
justified in spending a month at the sea-side or in the 
mountains, are quite willing to do so when they can spend 
a few hours daily at some hobby, or in better fitting them- 
selves for next year's work. At a Summer School, Michigan, 
in 1888, I was told that more than loo teachers enrolled 
themselves in the Kindergarten Classes on the first day of 
meeting. Lectures and classes were also held in a variety 
of other subjects. Attendance at Summer Schools is not by 
any means confined to teachers. 

A Summer Normal School has been conducted for 
several years at Honesdale, Penn. The session lasts for 
from four to six weeks ; the object being " to thoroughly 
review the common branches taught in the schools of the 
county ; to discuss organisation, and the aims, methods, 
and means of elementary teaching ; to draw the attention 
of teachers to the study of education as a science, and, 
finally, to show the use and value of illustrative apparatus." 
This school of course differs from those of which I have 
been speaking in having an official standing. 

One of the oldest of the Summer Schools, having a 
large commodious building on a promontory jutting into 
the Atlantic, is chartered under the laws of Massachusetts. 
As the course may be taken as typical of many, I will 
summarise it. One of the departments, in charge of a 
State educational agent, is devoted to the training of 
teachers. The school of /nethod extends over three weeks, 
and includes lectures on arithmetic, civil government, 
drawing, geography, history, kindergarten, language, pen- 
manship, minerals, plants, animals, human physiology, 
pedagogy and history of education, psychology, reading in 
primary and grammar schools, school management. The 
list of lecturers includes many whom I recognise as leading 
authorities on Education. The academic department is open 
for five weeks, and includes classes in astronomy, botany, 



222 Teaching in Three Continents. 

drawing, French, English literature, elocution and oratory, 
geology and mineralogy, German, history, Latin, Greek, 
mathematics, microscopy, music, painting, shorthand, type- 
writing, and zoology. 

This will probably be considered quite sufficient to 
prevent the sea air from having a too greatly invigorating 
effect. 

PEDAGOGICAL LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS. 

Germany and France are much in advance in their 
provision for these valuable auxiliary means of adding to 
the usefulness of the schoolmaster. America has paid 
some attention to the subject ; but England and Australia 
practically very little. This is to be very greatly regretted. 
Libraries there are in plenty which contain works on educa- 
tion ; but properly arranged collections of the educational 
literature of various countries, together with educational 
reports for reference, are almost unknown : and museums 
of appliances, as far as I know, altogether so. The largest 
and best of the limited number I visited was the Musee 
Pedagogique of Paris. Excepting with regard to industrial 
or manual work, I was somewhat disappointed with Parisian 
scholastic institutions : and the pedagogical museum and 
library was no exception. It is good and valuable, but I 
had heard such glowing accounts of it that I must confess 
it did not come up to my expectations. 

It was one of the first places I visited. I found it located 
in an old convent. I am unacquainted with the require- 
ments of convents : but they are evidently very different 
from the needs of a museum and library — in fact, its un- 
suitability is probably even greater than that of the costly 
new museum of Owens College, Manchester. The differ- 
ence is, that the Parisian authorities are not to blame, 
and the Manchester folk are. The one is making the best 



SUPPLE!\TENTARV MeANS FOR TRAINING. 223 

of what it could get : the other has apparently solved 
the problem how best to spend the largest possible sum of 
money, to secure the least possible convenience and accom- 
modation. It must not be understood that there is any point 
of resemblance., other than unsuitability of building, between 
the two museums. 

The library of Owens College contains a large collec- 
tion of educational works and reports in many languages, 
including a number of volumes by English and American 
writers. In looking over the shelves I found many familiar 
names, but missed a number which I expected to find. In 
fact, I could not avoid thinking that the collection did not 
represent the best English thought on education, either 
on its practical or theoretical side. At the various reading 
tables, which will accommodate about fifty persons, there 
were some fifteen readers, chiefly ladies. Three or four 
rooms are devoted to reports and pamphlets. The whole 
of the walls are shelved with large pigeon-holes, each com- 
partment being devoted to reports on a particular subject ; 
so that confusion is avoided and reference easy, until sets 
are complete and they can be bound. 

The museum is like a schoolboy's pocket : it is not 
wanting in material ; but needs arranging. The building, of 
course, has much to do with this. The rooms are too small 
for what they contain, and their arrangement is as confusing 
as the old portion of Boston, where it is said a street was 
made along every cow-track. But the building has nothing 
to do with, for example, the confusion in the rooms devoted 
to physical and natural science. Here there is considerable 
variety of material for teaching physics and natural history ; 
but jumbled in a peculiar manner only equalled by the 
arrangement — or, I should say, want of arrangement — of 
the excellent collections of common articles in the English 
Board Schools, where no attempt has been made at classifi- 
cation. In the Board School it is no serious drawback ; in 



224 Teaching in Three Continents. 

an institution such as the one of which I am speaking, it is 
confusing. I noted the contents of one compartment of a 
long case extending down the centre of a large room — the 
skeleton of a frog is surrounded by small shells, piece of 
honey-comb, a lobster, a quartz crystal, a pair of horns, 
sample of wool, specimen of mica, silk cocoons, another 
piece of mica, some shells, beeswax, and specimens of 
mineral ores. As many of these had no labels, the col- 
lection is of comparatively little educative value. Some of 
the physical apparatus is very good. The diagrams are 
excellent, as also are the physiological and anatomical 
models. 

The Industrial Education Department is contained in 
a number of small, unsuitable rooms, but contains a large 
collection of models illustrative of the work which is done 
in the various schools o^ the city. There are specimens 
of modelHng in clay, joinery, chip-carving, turnery, forge 
work, etc. ; but as I have had to speak of this work in con- 
nection with the schools themselves, I will not say more 
here. One of the most useful and suggestive departments 
is that devoted to home-made apparatus for illustrating the 
principles of Physics and Chemistry. In several rooms 
science classes were being conducted, the supply of apparatus 
affording excellent facilities for such work. 

The art rooms contain a good collection of casts for 
drawing and modelling exercises, and provision is made for 
work being carried on in the rooms. 

Although the perfection of the Musee Pedagogique has, 
I think, been over-estimated, it is nevertheless well worthy 
of imitation by all large cities. I will insert a summary of 
its contents. 

Fiist Division. — Library. 

Section I. — Works relating to history of education ; plans and pro- 
grammes of instruction in France at different epochs ; legislation and 
organisation of public instruction among difterent nations ; educational 



SlTPLEMEXTARV MeaXS FOR TrAIXIXG. 225 

Statistics in France and foreign countries ; principal journals of educa- 
tion and public instruction. 

Section II. — Methods ; tables, models ; charts in general use in the 
classes ; apparatus for reading, exercises for instruction in reading ; 
hieroglyphic printing for the blind ; methods and different st3'les of 
writing ; globes and apparatus of geography ; charts and maps in 
relief ; models for linear drawing and ornamental design ; charts and 
models for primary' instruction in natural sciences ; music, and varied 
apparatus of instructing the blind, deaf, and dumb. 

Section III. — The collection of text-books used in the different 
branches of education in the primary schools of the lower and higher 
grades. 

Secojid Division. 

Section I. — Instruments, apparatus, and models for scientific in- 
struction in primary and secondary schools, in adult schools, normal 
schools ; instruments used in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. 

Section II. — Collection of Natural History specimens used in class- 
room demonstrations ; anatoiny and physiology, skeletons and models 
for demonstration of the body and its functions ; zoology, botany, 
mineralogy, industry, agriculture, represented with collections to assist 
the teacher in the lessons. 

Section III. — Models for instruction in drawing; models in plaster 
for ornamental drawing ; models for human figure drawing, as well as 
for linear drawing ; machines and parts of machinery for illustrating 
and teaching mechanical drawing ; geometric objects in wood, plaster, 
and wdre ; models of building construction, stereotomy, &c. ; models 
for perspective and shade drawing ; models of an immense variety of 
manual exercises in wood and iron, including carpentry work, forge 
work, turneiy, &c. 

Third Division. — Furniture and Appliances. 

Section I. — Here are plans, designs, and models of school build- 
ings, and of different parts of buildings ; plans and models of different 
systems of ventilation and heating of schools ; of plumbing employed 
in the most modern and improved buildings. 

Section II. — Models and specimens of furniture used in schools and 
in the Kindergarten ; different systems of tables and benches employed 
in the boys' and girls' schools ; desks, blackboards, apparatus for 
hanging charts and maps ; apparatus for the gymnasium and for the 
playground ; ink-wells, pencils — in fact, every appliance of use in a 
school. 



22 6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

America. 

The museum of teaching appHances, models of school 
buildings, and so forth, in connection with the Bureau of 
Education at Washington, has already been referred to. It 
is even more cramped than that at Paris — in fact, the rooms 
devoted to it are so full that they have become little more 
than store-rooms to hold the accumulating material until the 
building for which the Bureau is agitating shall be built. 
With what is already stored as a nucleus, it would take 
but a short time to make the collection the best in 
existence. 

There were many interesting exhibits which attracted 
my attention, but none more than the models of school- 
houses in various parts of the world. "You can tell a 
school-house anywhere," I have heard people remark in 
Australia. If they were taken to America, unless they were 
told, they might pass three-fourths of the schools never 
guessing their use. There is only one best plan of school- 
house, yet every coimtry has it — or thinks so. 

The library of the Bureau is even superior to the 
museum, and is worthy of special mention, both on account 
of its size and importance. The admirable system of card 
catalogues, so generally used in America, but which I have 
seen nowhere else, is in use, and enables the visitor to refer 
to the immense number of reports and pamphlets with 
facility. There are now some twenty-five thousand volumes, 
and one hundred thousand pamphlets of an educational 
character in the library. 

I found that many of the school superintendents of 
States and towns have established educational libraries, in 
which are to be found most of the standard works on the 
science of education. In some cities where this has not 
been done, greater attention is paid to this department of 
the public libraries, and teachers are given special facilities 



Supplementary Means for Training. 227 

for using the books. For example, the PubHc Library of 
St. Louis has a special department for the use of the 
Kindergarten teachers. 



INFLUENCE OF AUXILIARY MEANS OF TRAINING. 

I have devoted considerable space to describing what 
proved to be a very interesting subject of inquiry. It may 
now be desirable to briefly consider the influence of 
Associations, Institutes, Reading Circles, Summer Schools, 
and the various other supplementary means of adding to the 
sum of a teacher's experience. Pedagogical libraries and 
museums are too rare to be taken into consideration in a 
general statement; but they are a means of improvement 
which it would be well to multiply. Teachers' Associations 
are so widely recognised as a valuable auxiliary means that 
little additional space need be devoted to them. They 
furnish teachers with occasions for comparing their ideas ; 
bring them into contact, companionship, and sympathy 
with others of their own profession ; and stimulate them to 
renewed activity with brighter, fresher ideas and firmer 
purpose. 

Of the reading circle there can hardly be a diflerence of 
opinion. Its efl'ect is entirely beneficial — that is, if we 
except the diploma. Summer Schools and Institutes re- 
main. They are distinctly American, and, as I have 
already stated, can only be criticised in connection with the 
surrounding conditions of American life. It will, however, 
be admitted that they have a tendency to cause super- 
ficiality. A young lady having listened to a few lectures on 
psychology or the science of pedagogy — two pet subjects in 
America — at a Summer School or Teachers' Institute, 
where the lecturer has been under the necessity of treating 
his subject in a more or less popular manner, is apt to 
imagine that she understands the subject. May be she did 
p 2 



2 28 Teaching in Three Continents. 

understand what he said ; but as he merely introduced her 
to the threshold of the storehouse of thought, her ideas may 
be very incorrect. Her knowledge may be compared to the 
passing view which a traveller in a train obtains of a distant 
range of mountains illumined by the rising sun, whose 
towering summits appear as easily scalable as the nearer 
foothills, which, in the deceptive distance, seem the more 
important. Rugged gorges and romantic glens ; mighty 
cataracts and charming lakes ; great forests or open glades, 
brilliant with many coloured flowers, may be there but are 
not seen. The greatest charms, the worst terrors, the 
glories and the dangers, the grandeur and the quiet beauty 
are all modified, softened, or entirely hidden. Neither the 
best nor the worst, nor indeed the true character is visible at 
all. These are the reward only of those who laboriously 
conquer the difficulties of passing Nature's barriers. Not a 
little of the charm of the distant prospect may be foreign to 
the mountains themselves, and due to brilliant sun and 
varied sky. 

To listen to a brilliant lecture on Herbert Spencer is 
not necessarily to understand his philosophy. The lecturer 
may present not Spencer, but himself in Spencerian setting. 
To hear an enthusiastic Kindergartener speak on Frobel 
may not lead the listener to understand the prophet of 
symbolism, but may shed light on the symbols. But just 
as a mere glimpse of a new land is better than no view at all, 
and may awaken a desire to investigate and enjoy its un- 
known beauties, discover its difficulties or brave its danger, 
so even a superficial sketch of the principles underlying the 
practice of teaching may induce the hearer to seek a fuller 
knowledge. It is sure to benefit the inquiring mind, and 
the superficial nature is not harmed by increased surface 
when added depth seems impossible. One hundred acres 
of a light crop of wheat are preferable to fifty acres of the 
same, although twenty-five acres of heavy would be better 



Supplementary Means for Training. 229 

than the whole hundred poor. A Uttle knowledge of many 
things is better than a Httle knowledge of a few ; but a 
thorough study of one subject may be more valuable 
as a discipline in acquiring, no less than in its effect as 
adding more to the totality of life than a smattering of 
many. 

I nowhere heard it argued that Institutes, Summer 
Schools, Reading Circles, or Associations, are individually 
or collectively a substitute for Normal School, or Normal 
College training ; but as auxiliary and supplementary to 
these proper means, and as the best available way of pro- 
viding for the lack of such training, their value is very great. 
To them, I attribute the excellent teaching I had the 
pleasure of watching in small out-of-the-way country schools, 
by young teachers who had had no other training. One of 
the best reading lessons I heard anywhere was in a little 
frame school-house in the midst of the woods of Massa- 
chusetts. It was not to any extent original in method, but 
the teacher's readiness of resource was remarkable. She 
did not forget that the object of a reading lesson is to teach 
to read ; that in order that a fact may be remembered, there 
must be a varying but sufficient number of impressions im- 
printed on the mind ; and that the more vivid these impres- 
sions the less need be the number. She had had no training, 
but had been through a high school, and wishing to earn 
money to go to college, "taught school" and "boarded 
round " as a means of doing so. I visited a number of 
these small District Schools, sometimes, as in the case I 
have mentioned, under guidance, when I presume I was 
taken to the best ayailable. On other occasions I went 
hap-hazard into schools I happened to pass. The number 
of pupils varied from eight, twelve, and fifteen upwards. 
In every school there was an atmosphere of cordiahty 
between teacher and pupils, an air of business, as though 
each and all were there for the proper purpose. The 



230 Teaching in Three Continents. 

teachers were always bright and versatile, and generally- 
appeared quite at ease in the presence of a visitor. I 
evidently had the good fortune to miss the "green girls 
and bumptious boys," of which the Editor spoke in a quo- 
tation which has been given elsewhere. 



I 



\ 



I 



CHAPTER IX, 



MORE ABOUT TEACHERS AND EDUCATION. 

The Teachers' Status in England, America, and Austraha.— Proportion 
of Male to Female Teachers. — How Teachers act towards Strangers. 

Status of Teachers. 

A DIFFERENCE is noticeable in the position which the 
teacher takes, and the respect in which the work is held, in 
England, Australia, and America. I place the names in 
this order, because Australia occupies an intermediate 
position between her two older relations in this matter. So 
many of the public and professional men of the United 
States have used the school as a step in Ambition's ladder, 
and so many of the wives of her prominent citizens have 
either been actively engaged in the work of teaching, or 
have graduated in the high or normal schools or colleges 
with those who have become teachers, that the pedagogical 
profession is held in higher repute than in the mother 
country, where the public elementary school is for " com- 
mon people," and where to make son or daughter a teacher 
is more often considered an ambitious aim in itself. The fact 
that male teachers in the United States so frequently merely 
look upon the work of teaching as a temporary expedient to 
earn money to place themselves in an occupation more 
remunerative and less irksome, is the cause of much of the 
weakness of the male in comparison with the female 
American teacher. 

In the past men have, to a large extent, taken to teaching 
to earn money to go to college ; or, having graduated at 



232 Teac}iing in Three Continents. 

college, teach until they have saved sufficient to commence 
the practice of the law. Such men will not, as a rule, be 
first-class teachers. It is only when a man's heart is in his 
work, that he will do best work. Some taking to the pro- 
fession with this object, find that they have such a liking 
for it that they can never leave it. Such are the most 
successful. As a rule, the door leading to success opens 
to those having the key of talent and energy. Others, 
and these seem to be the more numerous, take to teach- 
ing as the most available occupation until "something 
turns up," and continue for the same reason. These men 
form the drag which hinders the progress of educational 
reform. The worst teaching I saw in America was by men 
who were graduates of some of the best universities. They 
taught as they had been taught when they were boys at school. 
They are the conservative party at the Association meetings 
and teachers' Institutes. Their standing as university men 
gives their words weight, which they should not possess. 

This custom, I believe rapidly passing away, of thus 
looking at the work of a teacher, has been productive of 
much harm. Except in individual cases, men will always aim 
at those positions in which it is possible to win the widest 
reputations, the highest honours, the largest incomes, and 
the best social position. While the relics of savagery linger 
to such an extent that the drones of the national hive, the 
fomenters of quarrels, thrive best — nay, exist at all — in 
consequence of the barbarism of our natures ; while the 
profession of suppressing crime and fomenting national 
quarrels and wholesale butchery is more highly honoured 
than training boys for useful lives; while it is considered 
an " advance " to leave the education of a child, in order to 
publicly lie in defence of a criminal who has been allowed 
to reach his condition of degradation by neglect in early life, 
it is not to be wondered that the world's progress, though 
sure, should be slow. 



I 



More about Teachers and Education. 233 

Proportion of Male and Female. 

In the United States there are upwards of four hundred 
thousand teachers, of whom thirty-seven per cent, are men. 
This statement will astonish the average American, nearly 
as greatly as the visitor who goes from city to city and finds 
women reigning almost supreme throughout the public 
schools. When I further state that of the ninety-six 
thousand public eletnentary teachers under the English 
Education Department, only thirty-one per cent, are males, 
that is to say, according to statistics, the proportion of male 
teachers is less in England than in the United States, it will 
be thought necessary to find some explanation for the un- 
expected result. 

In the first place, the number given for the United States 
includes all grades of teachers. If it were possible to find 
the number of teachers in the primary and grammar schools 
of the States, the comparison would be very different. 

I was fully aware that there has been for some time a 
decided tendency in England to increase the proportion of 
female teachers, but I was not aware that it had developed 
to the extent which it has. Only forty-one per cent, of all 
certificated teachers, twenty-six per cent, of the assistants, 
twenty-seven per cent, of the pupil-teachers, and twenty-five 
per cent, of the candidates for engagement as pupil-teachers, 
are males. 

In London the experiment of employing women teachers 
for standards I. and II. in the Boys' Departments of a limited 
number of selected schools was tried a few years since, 
with such success that the Board decided to continue and 
extend the principle. There are now nearly twice as many 
lady as gentlemen adult teachers, while only twenty-one per 
cent, of the pupil-teachers are males. At the same time 
women are not found in charge of boys' schools, as in 
America. There is always a man at the head. 



234 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Returning to the consideration of the proportion of 
male teachers in the United States, some curious results are 
obtained. Where education is worst, the proportion of 
male teachers is highest ; while in the centres where it has 
made the greatest progress, and where the schools are most 
efficient, it is becoming a curiosity to find a male teacher in 
the primary and grammar schools. 

In New Mexico seventy-eight per cent, of the teachers 
are men, in Utah fifty per cent, in Arkansas seventy-three 
per cent., Carolina sixty-two ; while for the whole of the 
South Central States it is sixty-one, and for the South 
Atlantic group of States it is fifty-three. I have no practical 
experience of any of these States except Utah ; but the 
census shows that illiteracy is increasing at a greater ratio 
than the population, and it is chiefly for them that the 
advocates of the Blair Bill wish to devote eighty millions of 
dollars from the national treasury. 

If we examine the figures for the groups of States where 
education has received most attention, we find that in the 
Atlantic Division only twenty-two per cent, are men, and in 
the North Central group of States thirty-four per cent. 
Taking individual States, the difference becomes still more 
marked ; New Hampshire has ten per cent, of men in her 
schools, Massachusetts ten per cent., Rhode Island twelve 
per cent., New York State seventeen per cent., California 
twenty-one per cent. Taking a few of the cities and towns, 
it will be found that in Chicago only four out of each 
hundred of the primary and grammar-school teachers are 
men. In Boston there are twelve, Springfield seven, Pro- 
vidence six, Washington nine, San Francisco six. New 
York City thirteen. Long Island city not three, while there 
are fourteen smaller cities which employ only female 
teachers. Philadelphia has three per cent, of men, St. Louis 
nine per cent, Minneapolis three, St Paul five per cent 

In Toronto, Canada, there are only thirty male teachers 



More about Teachers and Education. 235 

in the schools, having an attendance of sixteen thousand 
children, or just ten per cent. 

In South Australia forty-five per cent, of all the regular 
teachers are males. Of the head-teachers eighty-one per 
cent, are men ; of the assistants and pupil-teachers twenty- 
nine per cent, are males. 

I collected a number of opinions as to the cause and 
effect of the great and growing disproportion of ladies in the 
schools ; some of which I will summarise. 

The concensus of opinion in England appears to be, 
that the increase of proportion of lady teachers has been 
brought about in the first place principally through motives 
of economy ; but now it is considered that for some depart- 
ments of the work they are better than men. If this 
tendency continues, co-education will follow as a natural 
sequence. 

The Clerk of the Liverpool School Board, after watching 
the result of the gradual increase of the number of lady 
teachers, is of opinion that except for the higher classes of 
boys they are preferable to the majority of available men. 

The same opinion was given by other School Board and 
Voluntary school authorities. 

The head-master of one of the finest, though not the 
largest. Board-schools I saw, whose staff of assistants con- 
sisted of five female and two male teachers, said he liked 
female teachers best except for the two upper classes. Said 
he, " Female assistants are more easily managed, and I can 
get a deal more work out of themr That reply is character- 
istic of many I received : " Female teachers carry out in- 
structions better," " Lady teachers are more careful of 
details," and so forth. On the other hand, there are not 
wanting a large number of men who predict dreadful con- 
sequences if the present tendency is allowed to continue. 
The work is too hard for women, say some \ and in England 
there is some truth in the statement, but that is no 



236 Teaching in Three Continents. 

argument against ability. " Boys need strong manage- 
ment ; " " They lose self-respect when they have to remain 
under women," are remarks often heard. 

The principal of the Normal School, Boston, considers 
that the paucity of male teachers, and the lack of means 
for training them, is one of the weak spots in the school 
system of the towns. He greatly regrets that there are not 
more men in the schools, though under present conditions he 
considers it a good thing. They have to be obtained where 
they can, and often are not of the first order : they have 
had no training, teach as they were taught, and have 
no grasp of the higher part of the teacher's profession. The 
consequence is that they are seldom on the progressive side 
of the education movement, and retard its progress. One 
of the most difficult tasks of a progressive teacher or super- 
intendent is to fight against the ignorance and prejudice of 
these men. That they are often college graduates makes 
matters worse, for they hold up their diplomas as guarantees 
of capacity, and the people grant their claims. 

The same gentleman says that the usual reason assigned 
for the employment of female teachers is that they are more 
sympathetic; but after seeing male teachers in Germany 
teaching junior classes, he is of opinion that men properly 
trained are more sympathetic than women. " The real 
reason is economy. We do not pay women more than 
about 1,750 dollars, and we cannot get first-class men for 
that." 

Among other opinions I sought were those of the 
managers of the education departments of several large 
publishing houses. One gentleman who had formerly been 
a teacher, and afterwards a State superintendent of schools, 
said : " It is chiefly a question of money. First-class men 
are, however, looking more to the profession of late since 
they see that in consequence of the development of the 
System of Superintendence there will be better opportunities. 



More about Teachers and Education. 237 

At present, it is no doubt true that the men do not show to 
advantage, and the progressive movements are largely 
carried on by women." 

Another business man, but also having experience of the 
schools, in reply to my inquiry, said :— 

" It is chiefly a question of money. A 1,500 dollars 
woman is superior to a 1,500 dollars man, and so on down 
or up the scale. A first- class woman can be secured for a 
salary which would not secure a second-class man. The 
women are anxious to take up the work, while the men are 
equally wishful of finding other occupations." 

Questioning Superintendent MacAlister of Philadelphia, 
who is looked upon as one of the most progressive men 
in the United States, and who has worked marvels in 
the improvement of the Public Schools of Philadelphia, he 
said : " There are fewer men in proportion in Philadelphia 
than in any other large city in the Union. I think women 
make better teachers than men ; they are brighter, quicker, 
more sympathetic, and less conservative than men. We 
have some splendid women in our schools." There is a 
magnificent Normal School for the training of women, but 
no means whereby a man may receive special training as 
a teacher. I therefore suggested that the comparison be- 
tween men and women teachers was hardly fair. A man 
is taken without any preparation, and placed to do the same 
work as a woman who has had a special training; and 
because he does not do it as well or better, it is argued that 
he is not as well adapted for teaching as a woman. They 
may be educated, cultured gentlemen, but unless the argu- 
ments in favour of teaching being a profession are devoid of 
weight, it is not to be wondered that they are opposed to 
" New Systems " which, in the nature of things, they do not 
understand. 

He admitted that there was much to be said in the 
way I had indicated ; but when a man became a teacher, 



238 Teaching in Three Continents. 

he should read and understand the signification of his 
work. 

A plan was being considered for giving the necessary 
training to men, who, at present, were often the greatest 
hindrances to the progress of true education. 

I made a number of inquiries in Toronto. One 
principal said : " Plenty of men could be engaged, but 
women are cheaper, and the short-sighted authorities will 
make that the chief consideration. Our boys leave school 
early because they have to be under female teachers ; boys 
over ten require a man's force of character. The upper 
classes of both boys and girls should be taught by men. 
There are only half a dozen male assistants in the whole 
of the city, at a salary of not more than seven hundred and 
fifty dollars, while the maximum salary of a female assistant 
is six hundred and fifty dollars, and only two or three 
receive that." 

The same statements were repeated over and over 
again, in a multitude of forms ; but I have no hesitation in 
saying that the prevalent opinion is that, while women 
cost less, they are just as effective as men. 

Hoiv Teachers Act toivards Sfrafigers. 

In one characteristic, all countries are alike. It seems 
to be the rule everywhere that as soon as a visitor enters a 
school the teachers change their work. There appears 
to be a great reluctance to allow him to see the school 
in its normal condition. When this desire simply leads 
to a general brightening-up of both pupils and teachers, 
while the regular work is carried on in the ordinary way, 
I am glad that it should be so. I go to a school wishing 
to see it in its real condition, under the most favourable 
circumstances. All fine days are not equally bright; a 
humorous man is not at all times equally witty; a poet 



More about Teachers and Education. 239 

has not always the divine gift of song. A school may 
be excellent, but there are times when it is out of harmony, 
just as there are times when work proceeds with more 
than ordinary vigour and smoothness. If I am to make 
but one visit, I do not wish to see it under either of the 
unusual circumstances, but would choose that which is too 
good rather than the unfavourable. Even a cipher does 
not present exactly the same appearance from every point 
of view. Many objects, having been seen from only one 
position, are unrecognisable from others ; comparatively 
few people would recognise a side-view of their own faces. 

Many teachers find it absolutely impossible to conduct 
their work in the ordinary way in the presence of visitors. 
I can, I think, generally detect when this is the case. 
Some men and women, however, while lacking the power 
to be natural, have developed to an astonishing degree 
the power to hide, under a formal bearing and appearance 
of stolid indifference, their intense excitement and the 
acute suffering they feel. This is a great misfortune. The 
children see their teacher is not the same as usual when a 
stranger is present, and become different too. Both are 
alike uncomfortable, and both deserve strongest sympathy, 
and neither get it. 

Very different is the lazy teacher, who gathers himself 
together on such occasions, and adds to the opinion of 
laziness with which his pupils regard him the further 
despicable one of dishonesty and hypocrisy. All " show 
off," and the casual visitor thinks what a fine teacher and 
well-disciplined class he has seen. The behaviour of chil- 
dren, like that of teachers, varies greatly in different places 
when a visitor enters a school. 

In San Francisco, immediately a visitor enters the room, 
all rise, step out of the desks with perfect order and quiet- 
ness, and stand, respectful and silent, until the visitor is 
formally introduced, when they gracefully bow, and in many 



240 Teaciiixg in Three Coxtixexts, 

schools say, with winning grace, "We are pleased to see 
you, sir." 

Notwithstanding the opinion I shall presently express, I 
must candidly own that the custom has much to recommend 
it. Had I seen it burlesqued in even a i^w of the scores of 
rooms I visited, I should condemn it ; but I did not. It 
was performed with greater grace in some than in other 
schools, but it was only a difference in degree where the 
worst was good. While it is evidently a result of drill, 
nothing could be more free from the stiffness one generally 
associates with drill. The attention, due to the Delsarte 
System of Calisthenics, must be the secret of the grace of 
movement. It is essentially pleasing to the visitor ; and 
while I would much rather have entered without form, I 
cannot but recognise that the training must have a great 
influence in producing that courteous, self-contained bearing 
so noticeable among the Cahfornian people. As anyone 
who wishes to gain an insight into the schools will not 
confine his observations to a mere formal visit, the chief 
objection is thereby removed; for, after this formal introduc- 
tion to teachers and pupils, he can pass from room to room 
while the work is proceeding in the ordinary way. As I 
proceeded East, I observed, with the increasing conservative 
tendencies of the people, a gradual lessening of this for- 
mality; but, at the same time, a growing tendency to put the 
pupils through sets of exercises to show their proficiency. I 
did not go to hear what the children knew, but to see how 
they were taught. This weakness was most marked in New 
York city, whose schools seem to have had great influence 
in forming the English opinion which I have read and heard 
of American teaching. There seemed to be so great a desire 
for me to see what they thought good, with a corresponding 
apparent disinclination to allow me to see what I wished, 
that I found it profitable to spend less time in the Empire 
City than I had intended. I came to the conclusion that 



More about Teachers and Education. 241 

there is more system and less education in New York than 
in any other city of the Union I had visited. In contrast 
to this, I was pleased to find in many places that, unless I 
was accompanied by a superintendent or other official, the 
pupils did not change their positions nor cease work at all, 
apparently not noticing me ; while the teachers politely but 
silently acknowledged my presence and continued their 
work. 

At one large convention of teachers, the Superintendent 
particularly impressed upon his hearers the importance of 
this, emphasising the point that visitors should not be 
allowed to interfere with the regular work of the school. 
" Anyone," said he, " who is really interested in the school 
would much prefer to see it in its normal condition ; and 
anyone not so interested should not be considered." The 
majority of Australian and English, as well as American, 
teachers, would do well to adopt this advice. 

When the neglect of ordinary work takes the pleasant 
form I have mentioned in connection with Californian 
schools, and only less perfectly carried out in the schools 
of many of the other States, as well as in England and 
Australia, it is hard to find fault with it ; but not when, as 
is often the case, the regular work ceases, to give place to 
show-work, and mere efforts to keep order, until the visitor 
feels the unwelcome nature of his presence and leaves. 

In Paris the pupils invariably stood to receive us, and 
remained standing while we examined the writing, drawing, 
and so forth. The teachers were very reluctant to go on 
with their work, and the scholars took advantage of every 
opportunity to talk and play. 

I was very strongly impressed in America with the 
decorum observable in all the schools. " Boys will be 
boys, you know," is often the excuse for their being rude, 
tumultuous young savages. The Enghsh boy has this 
tradition to maintain, and he does it well ; so does his 
Q 



242 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Australian relative. Popular belief led me to expect the 
American cousin to be the roughest of all. I have come 
to the conclusion that the smaller the traveller's stock of 
" expectations," the larger his crop of " realisations." The 
American school-boy exhibits little or none of that rudeness 
supposed to be essential to and inseparable from a school- 
boy. The visitor misses the noisy mode of marching — 
especially upstairs — with which he is so familiar in Australia 
and England. The teacher does not seem afraid to turn 
his back or leave the room lest the pupils should take 
advantage. Perhaps the Americans will be the first to 
smile at the perfection attributed to their boys and girls ; 
but I speak of my own careful observation. During my 
visit I only once heard a teacher threaten a boy with a 
task. Strange to say, this teacher was a man, and his 
school a small one. 

I tested some of the classes severely. In several in- 
stances I obtained permission to take charge of classes 
for a time, sometimes when the teachers were away. I 
invariably had to make the same note — " The behaviour 
of the children is most pleasing. They are polite, orderly, 
and self-controlled." In England, on the other hand, I 
found the pupils as ready for tricks as the Australians, and 
had frequently to write — " The children were orderly and 
quiet when I entered the room ; but as soon as the 
teacher took his eyes off the class they began to talk, copy, 
or otherwise take advantage." 



CHAPTER X. 



SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

Qualification of an Instructor. — Of an Educator. — Of the Perfect Teacher. — 
Need for Good Apphances. — American School-house more comfortable 
than English. — Scope of American and English School compared. — 
Heritage of England in her Traditions. — Style of School depends on 
its Scope and Organisation. — Playgrounds. — Height of Buildings. — Do 
American Children Play as much as English and Australian ? — Use of 
Drill. — Leeds Higher Grade School. — Single Class-rooms. — Substitute 
Teachers. — General Assembly not so frequent in America. — What con- 
stitutes Good Order and Discipline. — Influence of Single Rooms on 
Corporal Punishment. — Dr. Harris' Experience in St. Louis. — Separate 
Class-rooms in Germany and Paris. — Pupil Teachers and Larger 
Rooms. — Australian School-houses. — Sombre Appearance of Parisian 
Schools. — Arrangement of a Parisian School. — Providing Clothes. — 
Dinners for Children in Paris, — French Infant Schools. — Veniilation , 
Lighting, and Heating. — Australia. — England. — America. — School 
Furniture. — Kindergarten, Primary and Grammar Schools. — Con- 
tinuous Blackboard. — Teachers Rooms. — Spelling. — Copying. 

A COMPARISON of the school buildings and accessories by 
means of which the teacher is enabled to carry on his work 
is very instructive. 

Versatility, readiness, application, continuity, power to 
concentrate on a narrow field, and frequently repeat a fact 
in every varying form, are the attributes of the successful 
instructor. In education more is required. It is intensity, 
depth, soul — in fact, the man himself that counts. A happy 
combination of these two sets of attributes constitutes the 
ideal schoolmaster. When a school system is conducted 
by a staff chiefly composed of such men, there will be no 
further discussion as to whether teaching is a profession. 
The true genius does not assert himself, he works. But a 
Q 2 



244 Teaching in Three Continents. 

skilful surgeon works in the most perfect operating room, 
with the best instruments procurable. 

Apart from a few exceptions, what we call skill is 
applied carefulness. The good teacher will give his pupils 
a good education, with nothing but the sea-beach for a 
copy-book and Nature for text-books. But he does not 
wish to be so limited ; it is not good that he should be. 
The learned English professor and eminent scientist who, 
when asked to give a lesson in a little village school, went 
and bought a pennyworth of candy, and kept children, 
who had never heard of chemistry, thoroughly interested 
in a lesson on crystals, was independent of apparatus ; 
but if he were not an exception, his name would not be 
honoured the world over. The ordinary teacher needs 
the best appliances which can be procured, and the wel- 
fare of the pupils demands that he should have them. 
To what extent the school buildings answer the end re- 
quired of them, with something of the why and wherefore, 
I shall in this chapter attempt to show. 

The counting-house of the American business man is 
more comfortable, and the office of the professional man 
more cosy and luxurious, than are those of their English 
cousins. In the same degree, the American school-house 
is architecturally more pretentious; and, internally, more 
elegantly and comfortably finished and furnished than the 
English, French, German, or Australian Elementary School. 
The difference in furnishing is, however, greater than that 
of building. Here, again, I must digress. I have made a 
comparison which, true in itself, is not so in its bearings. 
In order to give only the proper value to the statement, 
the scope of the schools must be considered. 

The American Public School is for the people as a 
whole. Theoretically, it is equally and freely open to the 
children of the poor and the rich — of labourers or pro- 
fessional men. I say theoretically, because while the school 



Schools and School-Houses. 245 

is open to them, many in the larger cities, by reason of 
poverty, cannot attend the ordinary schools, and are either 
provided with special institutions (chiefly by private liber- 
ality), or attend no school. Nevertheless, it is true that 
the majority of children of all classes, who attend school, 
are found in the Free Public Schools. Equality is the 
basis of the social and political structure of the Republic, 
and the Free Public School is the surest bulwark of de- 
mocracy. I believe that the majority of pupils attending 
private schools are sent there from religious rather than 
social reasons. As far as elementary education is con- 
cerned, this is also largely true of Australia, especially 
outside the few larger towns. At the same time, they are 
not based on the same broad principle, which is justly the 
pride of Americans ; but the weakness of the American 
systems has been avoided : and I fancy I can see a tend- 
ency towards the gradual growth of their most praiseworthy 
feature. 

Whatever may be said theoretically, however, it is ac- 
knowledged that the American schools neglect the children 
who most need them ; or, more correctly, the children neg- 
lect the schools, and the schools are powerless to prevent 
them. What the Americans fail to do was the one special 
object for which the English Education Act was passed; 
and the thoroughness with which that nation set about 
accomplishing their purpose is characteristic. The result 
may be said to be so far satisfactory. Had the authorities 
recognised the difference between a railway system, and a 
system of education, it would have been still more so. A 
line of rails may be put down, and the locomotive will follow 
them : a Code of instruction may be drawn up, but it may 
be quite problematical whether education will follow. The 
Voluntary and Board Schools of England were established 
for the special purpose of providing education for the poor. 
It does not take long to find how strongly the opinion is 



246 Teaching in Three Continents. 

held that such is still their object, although I was assured — 
indeed, I met with many instances — that it shows signs of 
modification. It is still, however, common for poor clerks 
and small tradesmen to stint themselves to send their 
children past the fine new Board Schools, with their well- 
ventilated, well-furnished, well-warmed rooms, provided with 
modern appliances, maps, and pictures, and taught by the 
best trained teachers in the country, to attend a " Middle- 
Class " school, an " Academy for the Sons of Gentlemen," 
" A Seminary for Young Ladies," or a " High School for 
Girls " — where the accommodation is not unfrequently poor, 
if not bad, and the teaching worse ; where, if "gentility" be 
observed, ventilation may be neglected ; where the useful 
facts with little education of the Board School gives place to 
useless nonsense or half-truths with less education ; where 
the child of the grocer learns to look down on the son of 
the mason, as in another similar establishment the son of a 
lawyer looks down on him ; where the books are out of 
date, and the teaching obsolete enough for a museum of 
antiquities. Antiquarians abound in England ; Roman 
remains are at a premium. I commend this kind of relic 
of the past to EngHsh attention. 

England has a glorious heritage in her monuments of 
the past. No American or Australian can appreciate the 
privileges of his birthright, until he has stood in reverence 
beneath the lofty arches of England's old cathedrals ; those 
hoary piles, mellowed and softened by the influences of 
ages. He can never be the same man again. He has a 
clearer vision ; he finds that his horizon has leaped back. 
He sees the ages behind, no less than the future before. 
He realises the growth of the liberties in which he is apt to 
be vain-glorious. He watches their struggle ; sees them al- 
ternately triumphing as at Runnemede, or trampled under 
foot by that Cromwell they had placed in power as their 
advocate and champion ; gaining strength and development 



Schools and School-Houses. 247 

alike by victory and adversity, until the dear little island 
home could no longer contain them, and they escaped across 
the ocean, into almost limitless lands, beneath clearer skies 
and in the absence of tradition to bound forward, a Greater 
Britain nourished in the arms of Democracy. 

All this has, apparently, nothing to do with school 
buildings. What I wished to make clear was that, as a 
rule, the object of the school being higher, it will follow that 
the style of the building will be of a better order. No 
better example of this can be found than the improvement 
made in the character of English buildings, along with the 
more liberal interpretation of the object of the elementary 
schools, particularly in the case of the Higher Grade Schools. 
It will probably remain a matter of dispute whether the 
adaptation of the typical American school is better than 
that of the English ; but the adoption of the former plan 
for the new Leeds Higher Grade School, which is claimed 
to be the finest Board School in England, is evidence in 
favour of the American style. The plan of a school de- 
pends on the system ot classification it is intended to 
adopt ; and with the English pupil-teachers, it would be 
impossible to do as is done in America. 

There is more uniformity in the arrangements of 
the rooms in America than there is in England, where 
each School Board or Committee of Managers adopts 
its own style ; but it is significant to find that the 
London School Board now arrange their schools so 
that each class shall have a separate room. This, of 
course, throws more individual responsibility on to each 
assistant. In Liverpool, however, the opposite tendency is 
apparent. The newest schools are designed with a special 
object of enabling the head-master to see as many of the 
teachers and pupils as possible without being noticed. To 
such an extent has this idea been carried out that I was 
shown a splendid school^ with, I believe, eight hundred 



248 Teaching in Three Continents. 

pupils, so arranged that from several points the head-master 
could see all but one or two classes ; and yet no more than 
two teachers are in any one room, and a greater number 
have a room to themselves. This result is obtained by 
using folding or rather sliding partitions, the upper portions 
of which are of glass. "There is no chance for a teacher 
to ' skulk,' " said the genial and obliging clerk of the Board, 
who further explained that the head-master was made 
responsible for the whole of the work and for the order of 
all, and that the buildings were planned so that he could 
keep all under his eye. I think this principle of espionage 
is distinctly wrong, and must tend to lower the standard 
of morality. It is by giving responsibility and expecting 
honourable fulfilment that the moral sense on which the 
performance of duty for the pleasure of doing so depends. 

Playgrounds. 

In the matter of playgrounds the English Board School, 
and the Australian Public School, are far before the 
American Public School. This again is but following the 
tendency of the country, and is one of the unexpected 
things which one frequently meets. If we except the older 
portions of Boston, New York, and a few other towns, the 
great difference between an English and an American or 
Australian town is the new appearance of the latter, together 
with the wide straight streets. One of the noticeable 
features, too, of an American city is the tendency to con- 
struct immensely high buildings, which neutralise the 
benefit of the wide streets by shutting out light and air. 

The Berlin law, which only allows a building to be as 
high as the street is wide, is not without its merits. As 
long as six or seven floors were all that was required, the 
architecture was of the usual European type, and ugly 
enough it frequently is ; but with the wish for structures 



Schools and School-Houses. 249 

of from ten to fourteen storeys, came the necessity for a 
new departure, and the American architect, equal as usual 
to the occasion, has given the world a new and distinctly 
American type of building, which towers to dizzy heights 
above, and descends deep into the bowels of the earth, 
below the street. Light, graceful, warm in winter, cool in 
summer, as nearly fire-proof as can be constructed, the 
electrical appliances and rapid elevators render the four- 
teenth floor as convenient as a fourth in the old style of 
building. 

This tendency to expand vertically instead of horizon- 
tally is seen in the schools, to the great detriment of their 
playground facihties. The work of the London School 
Board in providing the spacious playgrounds, to be found 
in even the most crowded part of the great city in connec- 
tion with the newer schools, is not the least valuable of the 
good offices of that great body. When I first visited 
England, some eight years since, I remember looking over 
an immense newly-built four-storeyed Board School, which, 
for want of roo"m, had the boys' and girls' playgrounds on 
the roof. I saw one or two others this time ; but was glad 
to find that the method of construction had been discarded 
altogether. A review of the evolution of the English 
school-house would form an interesting study. 

Many strongly object to the high American buildings 
for girls on physiological grounds ; others consider that it 
causes a waste of time. The fear of fire is another and very 
strong argument against lofty buildings. That this is a real 
danger, the recent destruction of the San Francisco High 
School proves. The following clipping, referring to the 
fire, may prove of interest, by throwing light on the ideas 
which Americans have of the requirements of school 
buildings. The San Francisco schools were the first I 
visited in America and being unacquainted with the palatial 
structures found elsewhere, I thought the buildings very 



250 Teaching in Three Continents. 

suitable. They are certainly well fitted and comfortable, 
and the city of San Francisco architecturally will compare 
favourably with most of its size. 

OUR SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

The Girls' High School has had the good fortune to burn down. 
Peace to its ashes ! Nothing is perfect in this world ; there is a 
thorn to every rose — a cloud to every silver lining. [What a mixed-up 
metaphor !] The Boys' High School did not go too. But there is 
no need for despondency ; it will go, sooner or later. It used to be 
said that in every American town the best building was the school- 
house. If that rule still holds, San Francisco is not an American 
town. We have none too many good buildings of any kind, but even 
according to the bay-window, stuccoed front, San Francisco standard 
of architecture, our public schools are poor relations. . . . We 
are proud of our liberal spirit in refusing to handle copper coins, and 
we like to picture to ourselves the thrifty Bostonian reining in his 
nickel with a string ; but we do not so often consider the fact that 
that same Bostonian spends dollars in beautifying his city, where we 
are satisfied to admire ourselves for our lordly magnificence in paying 
fifteen cents for a ten-cent drink. ... In architecture of all kinds 
we have stood still till within the last three years, and in the matter 
of school architecture we have been stationary down to the present 
moment. It is to be hoped that in re-building the Girls' High School 
we shall have a change. With one good building as a model, we 
should be tolerably safe against any tendency to perpetuate the present 
system of educational barracks. 

The smallness of the playground space in connection 
with American schools constantly struck me. I do not 
say the observation is correct, but I could not avoid 
the conclusion that American boys and girls do not 
play as much as Australian and English children, even 
when there is sufficient playground. In one or two cases 
I was given to understand that they were not allowed 
full liberty to do so. They appeared to stand and walk 
about in a listless manner, quite different from anything 
I had been used to during my connection with schools. 
When the Australian boy quits the school-doors, all the 



Schools and School-Houses. 251 

pent-up exuberance of his nature bursts forth, and he 
flies to cricket or football, if there be room, or tops, 
marbles, leap-frog, or a dozen other games, according to 
season, for the Parisian fashions are not naore arbitrary 
than are the games of boys. The English boy's pro- 
pensity for games is so proverbial that I believe it used 
to be said that the public school boys played many fine 
games, and did a little work between times. If my ex- 
perience is typical, it will afford an interesting problem 
for some inquiring mind to find the reason why the 
English character should have changed in this respect 
in America, and tend to intensify in Australia ; but I 
would caution anyone against taking my observation as 
correct without corroboration. I believe it to be so, or 
I would not state it ; but I have seen so many good 
observers misled that I think too much caution cannot 
be exercised. At the same time, I do not hesitate to 
state an observation, in the hope that it may assist to 
a correct conclusion. 

Another note, which I find I have put down several 
times, has a bearing on the same general subject — i.e., the 
greater decorum of American boys and girls may be 
mentioned here. It is well known what a trouble the 
management of boys on stairways in England gives. The 
banister railing usually has projections to prevent sliding ; 
and gates to prevent running up and down are to be seen 
now and then. During play-time, and at assembly and 
dismissal, the stairs are a constant worry to the teachers. 
In two very large " middle-class " private schools, I found 
the stairs were completely caged in with three-quarter inch 
iron bars " to prevent boys from climbing over." Gates 
of the same strength of material were placed at the foot, 
and during play-time kept locked. One of the special 
features of one of these schools was military drill. I 
watched a company go through their exercises with order. 



252 Teaching in Three Continents. 

regularity, and precision ; but they could not be trusted 
on a stairway without its being barred like a lion's den. 

I found military drill to be practised to a much greater 
extent in England than in America ; but it does not appear 
to have any pronounced effect in softening the tumultuous 
natures of the boys. They are simply orderly when 
under orders. It inculcates submission to authority, and 
gives a certain amount of exercise, though in this respect 
it is inferior to gymnastics. As far as I know, I came 
into contact w^ith no system of schools in America where 
military drill formed part of the programme of work, and 
in view of the nature of the teaching staff, it cannot 
do so, unless a special drill-master visits the school 
for the purpose. This is, I believe, done in some cities. 
Calisthenics, or physical exercises, however, receive great 
attention ; and dumb bells, wands, and so forth, are found 
through the schools in many places. These and the 
frequency of pianos appear to have a decided influence in 
the quietness with which pupils move from one place to 
another without formal marching. 

The English school has usually from one to three floors. 
The latest and most improved of the London Board Schools 
have only two, with sufficient basement for heating and 
storage purposes. The infant school in such cases forms 
a separate building of one floor. When sufficient room is 
not available for this, the building is made one storey higher, 
and the infants occupy the ground floor. I was frequently 
struck with the fact that the girls take the upper floors — 
" They are so much lighter on their feet, and do not make 
such a dreadful noise on the stairs." The newly-built 
schools of Liverpool, which I visited, are of one or two 
floors only. 

The Higher Grade School, of which the Leeds Board 
are so justly proud, has four floors and a basement. The 
ground floor contains a large and splendidly fitted 



Schools and School-Houses. 253 

gymnasium, eighty by forty feet, after the ordinary plan of 
the German schools. There are also rooms for demonstra- 
tion in cooking, and large dining-rooms for both boys and 
girls, with large gas-stoves for warming or cooking children's 
dinners. The various floors are arranged on what the 
Americans call the " corridor plan " — that is to say, there is 
a corridor ten feet wide running the whole length of each 
floor, with rooms opening from each side ; the partitions 
between the rooms and the corridor being wood to the 
height of some five feet, and plate glass above. The rooms 
are provided with dual desks on terraced floors, and will 
accommodate from seventy-two to eighty pupils each — in 
my opinion, about twice the proper number. Instead of 
blackboards or wall slates, sheets of ground glass with a 
dead black background are used, and are very effective, but 
too limited in size. They are of course set in the walls. 
The boys take the first floor, the girls the second (because 
they are not so noisy), while the third is devoted to higher 
science work. There is a lecture hall to hold one hundred 
and thirty pupils, and a chemical laboratory fitted for about 
one hundred students. The roof is flat, with asphalt floor, 
and surrounded with a high parapet. It is used as a 
playground. 

There has been, and to a certain extent still is, a very strong 
feeling amongst a section of the community against this 
school, which has cost some forty thousand pounds. The 
opponents maintain that the Board has gone out of its 
proper sphere of work in providing from public funds for 
the education of the children of parents able to pay the 
fees of private schools ; that it is taxing the community for a 
class, and thereby competing with private enterprise. I 
have heard other Higher Grade Schools condemned on the 
same grounds. In themselves, these objections are opposed 
to the present tendency of thought on education ; but, 
on the other hand, they receive some weight (at all events 



254 Teaching in Three Continents. 

in this instance) from the fact that, while the school is 
avowedly, and, in fact, originally was, intended for the 
higher education of the brightest pupils who had completed 
the course in the ordinary schools of the city, it has become 
a " better-class " school, where parents, who would not send 
their children to an ordinary Board school for social or 
sentimental reasons, gladly avail themselves of the public pro- 
vision when the obnoxious term " Board school " gives way 
to the more pretentious phrase, " Higher Grade school " — 
where a character of " respectability " is guaranteed, and a dis- 
tinction conferred by teachers wearing college gowns and caps. 
When the school was built, it was not intended that children 
belonging to the lower standards should be admitted. It 
was intended to continue the work of the various Board 
schools, not to provide another school for the same work. 
The object has apparently been changed, for the teachers 
informed me that it was considered desirable, in order to have 
good work in the upper standards, that the children should 
be under their care from the beginning. 

The information that several School Boards had pro- 
vided " Higher Grade schools " gave me unmixed pleasure 
when I first heard it ; and, although a closer acquaintance 
with the schools themselves somewhat modified my satisfac- 
tion by showing me that a " Higher Grade " school has to a 
certain extent been allowed to become a school for a 
"better class " of children, rather than an institution purely 
for the advanced education of the brighter children from 
the Board schools, without reference to ivhether they are richer 
or poorer^ I still look upon their establishment as one of 
the most hopeful signs of the progress towards National 
Education. 

I do not wish to be misunderstood on this important 
point. All I contend for is, that in connection with a public 
school system there should be no distinction conferred by a 
fee. The Leeds Higher Grade School pupil pays a fee of 



I 



Schools and School-Houses. 255 

ninepencea week, and threepence for books, etc., while a child 
attending another Board school may only pay from a penny to 
sixpence. The one child feels a conscious superiority over the 
other. When all things are taken into consideration the differ- 
ence to a large extent vanishes. An ordinary Board school will 
cost, perhaps, one-quarter of the higher grade school to 
accommodate half as many ordinary pupils. The salaries, 
general expenses, and so forth, are higher in the one than 
the other, so that it is probable that a detailed and accurate 
comparison would show that the one is as great, if not 
greater, a tax on the public funds as the other. To recognise 
that the higher grade school gives a better education than 
private institutions is to admit that education is better 
managed by public than by private enterprise, a fact gene- 
rally admitted everywhere but in England and her Colonies, 
and there in so far as elementary education for the poor h con- 
cerned. It sounds very pretty to speak of the same schools 
for all classes of children ; but practically this has not been 
realised in any large centre of population, although it has in 
many places where population is less dense, and where the 
very poor do not exist. In all large towns there are various 
districts inhabited by particular classes of people. In 
democratic America, or newTr and more democratic 
Australia, this is seen as clearly, as if some power had taken 
the people as they landed, and allotted them their locality. 
There has, in fact, been an authority at work more despotic 
than any potentate. American schools are provided as 
much for the children of the wealthy as for the poor ; as 
much for the son of the famous lawyer as for the child of 
the pedlar ; and both attend them on the same terms : but a 
visitor expecting to find these two classes in the same 
schools will be disappointed. One school is as good as 
another, but the locality determines the character of the 
pupils. 

I consider the American school-house much more 



256 Teaching in Three Continents. 

suitable for good work than either the EngUsh or the Aus- 
tralian. During the whole of my visit, I did not find two 
teachers conducting lessons in the same room. Combined 
classes for study are often seen in high schools ; and, of 
course, classes are occasionally combined in the lower grade 
schools under one teacher, although the system of emergency 
teachers adopted in all the towns renders this unnecessary 
to any extent. If a teacher is unable to be in her place, 
she sends word to the superintendent, and a "substitute 
teacher " is sent to take her place. Frequently, the 
payment of the substitute is taken, in whole or part, from 
the regular teacher's salary. In St. Louis, when the absence 
is only for a few days, the substitute is sent from the 
Normal School ; but if it is expected to exceed five days a 
regular substitute is employed. This question of substitutes 
is, of course, a much more important one in schools where 
the rooms will not allow of " double-banking." 

Not only is each teacher's attention confined in America to 
one class, and that a much smaller one than required in Eng- 
land and Australia ; but the combined preliminary and dis- 
missal drill is either absent, or so modified that the worry atten- 
dant upon it in the countries mentioned is absent. In several 
schools where the practice of a general assembly was carried 
out, I was surprised to find that only the principals and vice- 
principals appeared in the yard. The pupils filed with great 
order and regularity into the buildings, upstairs and into 
their rooms almost without supervision ; the noise (or, as it is 
expressively termed, "the row") attendant on the like 
performance noticed elsewhere was absent. I believe the 
first fifteen minutes of assembly, and the various changes 
during the day, are more fatiguing aud worrying to English 
and Australian teachers than all the legitimate work of teach- 
ing. Frequently, in America, the formal general assembly is 
dispensed with. Pupils pass into their rooms as they come 
to school, or at the proper signal, and there is no further 



Schools and School-Houses. 



25' 



change until the dismissal, except for the usual morning 
interval of ten or fifteen minutes. 

The order of the schools generally appeared very good, the 
most pleasing feature being that it appeared unconscious. I 
am aware that this may be considered a matter of opinion. What 
I would praise as good order, another might speak of as a 
free and easy disorderly appearance. To see children sitting 
on backless forms, with heels together, hands behind, backs 
straight, heads set, looking straight to the front, with either 
an expression of impatient fearful misery, or a dreamy, far-off 
expression telling of a mind seeking in a distant sphere the 
employment it should get in school, is, in my opinion, not 
order, but cruelty. I do not wish to see a class of boys or 
girls looking like the puppets in a street show, which move 
simultaneously, and to order, as the showman pulls the string. 
I did see examples of this modern form of inquisition — ex- 
cepting the backless seats — in America, but they were few. On 
one occasion, I was taken to see the " best disciplined school 

in ." I did not see what was promised^ but I saw 

much to cause reflection. In this case, there was a look of 
supreme satisfaction alike on the face of teachers and pupils, 
as though asking, "Did you ever see anything like it?" 
The action on the part of the pupils in thus inflicting 
inconvenience on themselves — it developed through the 
application of another sort of infliction — is an interesting 
phenon;ienon. Originally obtained by harsh measures, 
which are always available shouhl the other motive in any 
individual case fail, the so-called discipline now rests almost 
entirely on the highly cultivated love of display. The boys 
and girls take as much pride in the "show off" process as 
do the teachers. A fitting designation would be "school of 
hypocrisy," and that surely is not needed. 

In bright contrast to this humbug show was an English 
Voluntary School in South London, under the control of 
the vicar of a neighbouring church, who is an enthusiastic 

R 



258 Teaching in Three Continents. 

member of the London School Board. The happy brightness 
of these children, the apparently unconscious courtesy with 
which the teachers treated the pupils, and the polite bearing 
of the children, was a pleasant change from the brusque- 
ness, I fully believe, unintentional, but not the less 
objectionable, which I noticed in connection with so many 
English teachers. What is exceptional in the school of 
which I speak, is the ordinary condition in the American 
schools I visited. During a conversation with Dr. Harris, 
the United States Commissioner of Education, I mentioned 
the impression I had formed, and asked whether it was 
correct, and if so, the cause. He informed me that the 
system of having separate rooms, so far as relates to America, 
was first introduced in Boston, and is the secret of the mild 
discipline of American schools. In St. Louis, when the old 
plan was in force, as many as one hundred cases of corporal 
punishment were recorded in a week ; later, during his 
superintendency, it got down to about ten cases in a term 
of ten weeks for schools of seven hundred children. The 
average now is about one case per week for two hundred 
and fifty pupils. 

The schools I visited in Paris and Germany were all on 
the separate class-room plan. I had several very interesting 
conversations on this subject with schoorofficials in England, 
who, strange to say, usually omitted the only reasonable 
excuse they have for clinging to the obsolete method of 
long rooms. The original plan of school-room, many of 
which still survive in Voluntary Schools, was to have a long 
room wath pupils facing the middle. This, with a partition 
run down the centre, formed a long, narrow room, still more 
objectionable with frequent back lighting. This has been 
again and again modified, until the best development has 
been reached in the London schools, with a separate room 
for each class, and left-hand lighting by means of large plate 
glass windows. Still, the pupil-teacher system renders it 



Schools and School-Houses. 259 

necessary to so construct the rooms that the head master can 
overlook them without undue disturbance or effort. 

The argument generally advanced in favour of the plan 
was that, by having large rooms and a system of general 
assemblies, teachers become trained to command large 
bodies of pupils. One gentleman remarked : " Have you 
considered the training our system gives for head masters ? 
What power of command does the system you describe as 
being in operation in America develop, which will be of 
use to a man on assuming the functions of head master ? " 
My reply was, that I had evidently mistaken the function of 
a school. I was not aware that its use was to train head 
masters, who could act as military officers on a small scale. 
I had looked at the matter from another standpoint, con- 
sidering the object was to educate the pupils^ and every 
means should be used which would conserve the energies 
of the teachers so that they might be directed to that pur- 
pose ; and that, with the changed conditions, the functions 
of a head master also changed. 

I think that school-rooms in America and Australia 
present the most cheerful appearance of any I have seen. 
The construction, or rather the arrangement, of the latter 
being dependent on the pupil-teacher system, is not of the 
most satisfactory type, but the inside appearance of the 
rooms is very pleasing. 

Australian school-houses are of one or two storeys only, 
and are similar in character to many of the English build- 
ings. In arrangement they follow the same model, and same 
tendency. I do not know that the single class-room plan 
has been adopted to any extent, but there is a decided 
tendency thereto. The fittings are also similar. The 
terraced floor is generally adopted ; and, in the newer schools, 
dual desks and seats with backs are always found. I regret 
that many of the old-fashioned and uncomfortable forms 
are still in use, to the injury of the children. At the same 
R ?. 



2 6o Teaching in Three Continents. 

time, I must say that the school-rooms ahiiost invariably 
present a bright, cheerful appearance ; and have none of the 
oppressiveness which I noticed in the Paris schools. 

No doubt the beautiful atmosphere of the sunny South 
has much to do with this ; but the art of the architect and 
painter has more. The rooms are well plastered, and when 
they are painted and coloured in bright, well-harmonised 
tints, the effect is very pleasing. Since my return I have 
visited several schools in Adelaide, and have been struck 
with this each time. 

By way of contrast to this, I will give my impressions ot 
Parisian schools. When I first visited Paris some years 
since, during the brightest season of the year, I was delighted 
with the artistic surroundings of the place, and thought 
that the Parisian could hardly help his artistic reputation. 
I have always retained pleasant recollections of my stay in 
the city of revolutions, and wished to renew my acquaint- 
ance. In some reports I have read of frescoed walls, 
rooms decorated with art treasures, and many other 
desirable accessories of an educative value not usually 
found in elementary schools, and I looked forward to my in- 
spection of such model schools with considerable expectancy. 
Provided with a letter of introduction from the British 
Ambassador, I called on the Minister of Instruction, and 
was by him introduced to the authorities controlling the 
Parisian schools. They kindly provided me with a list of 
representative schools, some of which I had heard of, and 
asked to be permitted to visit, while others were suggested 
by the genial and courteous Director of Primary Instruction 
for the Department of the Seine. I was unfortunate. I 
did not find the frescoes ; and, although the schools proved 
very interesting and the manual training more than 
ordinarily so, the appearance of the school-rooms was 
nearly always cheerless and depressing. 

The first school I visited was a comparatively recent 



Schools and School- Houses. 261 

building of large dimensions. Towards the street it looked 
like an immense factory or barrack ; but this, I knew well 
enough, had little significance in Paris, where the best view 
of a pile of buildings is frequently to be had from the 
courtyard. Facing the street there may be nothing but 
massive walls and frowning gates, maybe with Liberte, 
Egalite', Fraternite above, and guards, with fixed bayonets, 
in front. Pass the symbols of liberty, equality, and brother- 
hood, and a wealth of beautiful architecture discloses itself, 
surrounding a lovely court. The reference to sentinels, of 
cours'e, is limited ; but the same change from forbidding 
exterior to light and ornamental interior is frequent, not 
only in France, but in Italy and other parts of the Con- 
tinent. History provides an explanation of the origin of the 
style ; custom continues it, and, indeed, the history of Paris for 
the past generation does not prove that the necessity for 
protection against revolutionary citizens has ceased. 

On the ground floor of this, as of the other buildings 
constructed especially for school purposes, there is a large 
hall, where I saw the children having their dinners. It is 
also used for purposes of drill, and physical exercises ; and, 
on wet days, for play. In boys' schools part of the hall is 
devoted to industrial or manual work. The first and 
second floors consisted of a long corridor or passage, with 
class-rooms opening on 07te side^ with a room for the teachers 
at the end. The class-rooms were well ventilated, and 
lighted from the left by ample sash windows. The floors 
were level, and provided with strong though very plain 
dual oak desks, sufficient for fifty pupils. This number w^as 
never exceeded in any room I visited. The doors had one 
glass panel to allow the- principal, or Inspector, to overlook 
the clas's without disturbing it. The teachers were provided 
with a platform raised some fifteen inches, on which was a 
combined stool and chair. In nearly every room behind 
the door a small case about twenty inches square, with a 



262 Teaching in Three Continents. 

glass front, was fixed on the wall about five feet from the 
floor. In it were sets of metric weights and measures, 
always ready for illustrating arithmetic. Instead of black- 
boards, a long panel, perhaps twelve feet by four feet, was 
prepared on the wall behind the teacher. Nowhere outside 
America did I find such ample provision for chalk work ; 
but unfortunately the plaster had been badly prepared and 
was frequently much cracked. 

P'or all these arrangements and materials, I have nothing 
but praise ; yet the atmosphere of the rooms was de- 
pressing. Whether I entered a school during or after 
school hours made little difference ; the brightness, light- 
ness, and joyousness I expected to find in Paris schools were 
absent. The walls were coloured in a dull buff, without 
any brightening effects ; the furniture looked dirty ; and 
there was an absence of the splendid maps, pictures, 
diagrams, which I know the French produce better than any 
other country, and which I have several times seen at 
International Exhibitions in connection with the French 
educational exhibit. I found that these are usually, 
I believe always, available in the building ; and, of course, 
the teachers cannot be always using such things ; but the 
absence of anything to brighten the sombre effect always 
depressed me. When the pupils were there the result was 
even worse. I always think that the best ornaments of a 
school-room are the children ; but imagine a gloomy room 
peopled with teachers and pupils all in black — all wearing 
very dark or black blouses. I should add that my visits 
were made in February. 

The children frequently began to talk as soon as the 
teacher's attention was drawn from them, and I saw what I 
had not witnessed anywhere outside England and Australia 
— children standing in the corridors for punishment (?) I 
sallied forth at half-past eight one Thursday with a long 
day's programme, but found that all schools were closed, 



Schools and School-Hocses. 263 

that day being kept as a close holiday, as Saturday is in 
English-speaking countries. As I had several schools on 
my list, which I should not be able to visit any other day, I 
looked over the buildings. In one I found a small class 
of boys of various ages, at work under a teacher, who in- 
formed me that their parents were poor, and had to be away 
all day at work, so they were cared for at school. 

Nothing strikes the visitor to Parisian schools more than 
the solicitous care which the authorities bestow on the 
children. The schools are free and compulsory, and no one 
must be excluded from any school on account of poverty. 
If their parents have to go to work early, the school is open to 
receive the children at any hour, and they can be cared for 
until the parents return in the evening, receiving their meals 
at the school. If the parents are unable to provide them with 
respectable clothes, an order is given on the Government con- 
tractor, who supplies them at a stated price ; and there is 
nothing to show that they have not been bought by the 
parent in the ordinary way. This prevents the saddening 
sight seen in England — I am glad to believe very rarely — of 
children attending school barefooted and forlorn. And I am 
sure the money would be readily provided to clothe all the 
ragged and poor of English cities, if there could be any 
certainty that they would not be pawned the next day for 
drink. How this contingency is guarded against in Paris 
I cannot say. 

Dinners for Parisia7i School Children. 

The paternal care of the French authorities is best shown 
by the system of school dinners ; and no better illustration 
can be given of the skill of the French in economical 
cooking. After the children have worked hard all the 
morning — and I have reason to believe that they do work 
hard — a good dinner becomes a necessity for health no 



264 Teaching in Three Continents. 

less than to prepare for the afternoon school. It is of little 
use to send the majority home. Their mothers are either 
away, or are too busy to attend to them : besides, it is more 
economical to provide for several hundred than for one or 
two. Every communal school therefore has its kitchen ; 
and at noon long tables and benches are set out in the 
large hall which I have mentioned, and all who do not 
wish to go home are provided by the Director with a 
dinner-ticket. If they are able, they pay ten to twenty 
centimes [from a penny to twopence] ; if not, they get the 
check all the same. In this manner, all appear equal 
when they enter the dining hall. They file down, and as 
they pass the kitchen each receives a basin of splendid 
soup, and a plate of meat and vegetables. Each one brings 
bread with him ; and, generally, a flask of wine and a napkin 
as well. I understand over eighty per cent of the children 
take the midday meal at school. The average cost per 
dish is barely three farthings — that is, about seven centimes. 
For a school of five hundred pupils I learned that, during 
two months, five thousand two hundred and sixty dishes 
were provided, of which one thousand one hundred and 
forty were given away. The total cost was three hundred 
and sixty-seven francs eighty-five centimes, of which one 
hundred and sixty-two francs had to be provided by the 
authorities. 

There is no appearance of charity. In a school held in 
an adapted — or shall I say ill-adapted? — old convent, situated 
in a poor part of the city, I witnessed the serving of a penny 
meal. The food was excellent, all the arrangements were 
orderly, everything was very clean. The majority of the 
pupils had very cheap but clean serviettes^ in which the 
bread they had brought had been wrapped. The children 
were chatting, but were not noisy ; and they partook of their 
meal in as deliberate a manner as can be expected from 
boys. There was none of the ravenous, wild-beast-feeding 



Schools and School-Houses. 265 

character, which I have seen in connection with dinners 
for the poor elsewhere. 

The French Infant School. 

"Every commune of a population of two thousand, where 
an aggregate of at least twelve hundred are congregated in 
one locality, is bound to build and maintain an infant 
school." The schools are usually limited to about one 
hundred and fifty pupils. No child can enter the school 
without a certificate that he has been vaccinated, and is in 
good health ; and a doctor, appointed by the mayor, visits 
the school once a week, and enters his report in the school 
register. The schools are divided into two departments, 
which we may call the juniors and seniors. The work may 
be somewhat loosely classified under six heads: — i. Exercises 
in language and recitation ; 2, play, including marching 
accompanied by singing ; 3, manual or physical exercises \ 
4, first principles of moral education ; 5, chats about 
common objects ; 6, elements of drawing, reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. I have put play second ; as a matter of fact 
it should be first so far as the juniors are concerned. Mat 
making, plaiting, building with bricks, and such busy work, 
form an important part of the earlier occupations. 

Instead of slates, I found the children using a substitute 
made of two sheets of ground glass, with a sheet of white 
paper between, set in a neat frame. One side of the paper 
was ruled in small squares of about one-third of an inch, 
and the other had parallel lines also about one-third of an 
inch apart. They write with an ordinary lead pencil. 
Numerous devices are provided for interesting the little 
oneSj who may be at school from seven a.m to seven p.m. in 
summer, and from eight a.m. to six p.m. in winter. This is 
to take care of the children during the absence from home 
of the parents — indeed, this was one of the primary reasons 



266 Teaching in Three Continents. 

of their being first established. A mid-day meal is provided 
at a cost of one penny for those able to pay, and free fo 
others. The schools as nearly as possible are intended to 
provide a substitute for a mother's care, and arc called 
"Ecoles Maternelles." 

VENTILATION, LIGHTING, AND HEATING. 

In the newer buildings in all the countries I visited, the 
most careful attention has been paid to the proper ventila- 
tion, lighting, and warming of school-houses ; and, probably, 
no one can be more conscious of the defects of the older 
structures than the authorities themselves, who have often 
spent large sums in trying to adapt to modern hygienic 
requirements buildings which, when opened, were no doubt 
considered as nearly perfect as possible. One generation is 
lauded for what the next condemns. I have already stated 
that I consider the American school-house best adapted for 
teaching purposes, on account of its arrangement and 
fittings. To this I must add that it also appeared to me to 
be the best lighted, ventilated, and warmed. I, of course, 
am speaking generally, but I imagine that the cost per head 
of accommodation is greater in America than elsewhere. It 
is difficult, if not impossible, to compare one country with 
another in this respect, the purchasing power of money 
varies so greatly. I have not been able to satisfy myself 
sufficiently to insert comparative figures, which, at the best, 
are unsatisfactory : there are so many considerations 
influencing the comparison which cannot be summarised. 
For example, the genial mild climate of Australia renders it 
unnecessary to make any elaborate provision for warming 
schools ; and proper ventilation can be secured without the 
application of machinery. In the southern portions of the 
continent, open fires or stoves are used, more or less, for 
two or three months, or from June to August, but frequently 



Schools axd School-Houses. 267 

during this season no fire is necessary after the first hour or 
two in the morning. The problem how to keep the rooms 
cool during December, January, and February, is a much 
more difficult one, and is still open for solution. 

In England, open grates and stoves are still frequently 
seen ; but all the newer buildings are fitted with hot-water, 
steam, or hot-air pipes. Machinery is not usually provided 
for supplying fresh, or exhausting vitiated air. That is usually 
left to natural means, provision being usually made for the free 
admission of fresh, and egress of foul air. In one or two of 
the schools I found elaborate ventilating apparatus at work. 

More attention is paid to this of late in Germany, and I 
was somewhat amused at the pride the rector of an older 
building, which had been lately fitted with an engine 
and ventilating fans, took in showing and explaining their 
working to me. The genial old gentleman was very visibly 
astonished when in reply to his question, " Had I seen any- 
thing like it before ? " I had to say that all the approved 
American schools were provided with far more elaborate 
machinery. I was sorry he asked the question, because it 
lessened the pleasure which my genuine expressions of 
appreciation of the benefits of his apparatus would otherwise 
have given. 

The elaborate and apparently complicated machinery for 
heating and ventilation used in America requires the attend- 
ance at the school of an engineer. The engine room, con- 
taining a battery of boilers, a powerful engine, and supply 
and exhaust fans, always proved an interesting sight. I 
think steam pipes are most frequently used, hot water taking 
second place ; while in a limited number of newer schools, 
air warmed by passing over coils of superheated steam pipes 
is forced into the rooms. Each room is invariably furnished 
with a thermometer, and teachers are expected to keep the 
rooms at an even temperature — between sixty-five and 
seventy degrees Fahrenheit ; and to their credit be it said, 



268 Teaching in Three Continents. 

that I did not once notice in a school the uncom- 
fortable overheated atmosphere so prevalent in Ameri- 
can rail-road cars, public buildings, and so forth. I in- 
variably found the rooms mild and comfortable. As I left 
America at the end of November, I cannot speak of the 
severe winter. 

SCHOOL FURNITURE. 

I think it is no libel on the American character to say that 
much importance is attached to appearances ; but they must 
be associated with comfort. The American is fond of 
" elegance," a term used in various connections not usual else- 
where. It at first sounds odd to hear of " an elegant dinner " 
or a " real elegant luncheon " ; but I will not digress, for after 
the novelty has worn off the fresh significations of certain 
words appear quite natural. An American's house must be 
handsomely furnished, but it must be comfortable. He has 
no use for a chair which does not fit his back. He was not 
made for a chair, and so insists that the chair shall be made 
for him. He prefers rockers, but anyhow it must be easy. 
The extent to which this principle is carried into every 
grade of school is noteworthy. I did not see a form with- 
out a back in the course of my w^anderings, from the Golden 
Gate on the west to Sandy Hook on the east. The Kinder- 
gartens are provided with small nursery bent wood arm- 
chairs. I did not see any other kind of seat in dozens of 
these institutions. Small kindergarten tables take the place 
of desks. They are usually about four feet long and twenty 
inches wide. Chairs and tables are all movable by the children 
themselves, and the operation of shifting them to the walls to 
make room for games is itself an interesting sight. Each 
little child lifts his chair, and then all march round the 
room to the sound of the piano and deposit them where 
told : then every second pupil steps out to carry the tables. 
The kindergarten rooms are invariably as bright and cheer- 



Schools and School-Houses. 269 

ful as money and care can make them, but as I have 
already spoken of them more particularly, I omit further 
reference here. 

The primary and grammar grade rooms vary considerably, 
as might be expected in such an immense country. Some 
are new and, of course, more elaborate ; but the worst I saw 
were quite as comfortably fitted as the best English schools. 
The furniture was not so new, for they do not use dual desks 
to any extent now, neither perhaps was it quite as strong ; 
but as it probably is not subjected to such rough usage it 
will last as long. More frequently the rooms are fitted with 
single desks, in the construction of which American inge- 
nuity, stimulated by competition, has succeeded in providing 
a combination of comfort, convenience, and elegance un- 
equalled outside of America. The teacher is provided with a 
platform, on which is a convenient offtce table or desk, and 
two or three armchairs. These teachers' desks are often 
quite elaborate. All round the room, extending from two 
feet six inches from the floor to a height of six feet, is a 
continuous "blackboard." This is prepared in various 
ways. Slate slabs are frequently used, but are expensive ; 
wood is objected to because it becomes glossy; plaster 
properly prepared and blackened is common, but a prepared 
surface of paper appears to be very popular and satisfactory. 

Neither in Canada nor the United States did I see a 
room without this continuous blackboard ; and an exceed- 
ingly valuable addition to the teaching facilities it is. It is 
another of the reasons why American untrained teachers 
take so readily to the work. They are perfectly familiar 
with the use of the blackboard. It is no uncommon sight 
to see a whole class engaged at working problems in 
arithmetic on the blackboards. The teacher can see what 
each one is doing, and check a wrong method or inaccurate 
calculation when the error is made. I need hardly say that 
the blackboard writing of American teachers is of a character 



270 Teaching in Three Continents. 

unequalled anywhere. The blackboards are used a great 
deal, in many schools, for drawing. Some drawing teachers 
like to have the pupils take every second lesson on the 
blackboard. Pupils, as well as teachers, consequently 
become adepts at sketching ; and it is no uncommon sight 
to find the blackboards half-covered with splendid sketches 
from life, or freehand drawings. In some schools it is 
customary to devote a portion of the board to an elabor- 
ately bordered imitation tablet, on which are written the 
names of the most praiseworthy pupils. This is known as 
the " Roll of Honour." 

The private rooms for teachers are much more comfort- 
able in America than in England or Australia. I cannot 
speak with confidence with respect to Paris or Berlin ; but I 
think the same comparison will hold good to a considerable 
extent. 

All the newer American schools are fitted with electric 
bells, communicating wath the principal's room ; and the 
signals for change or dismissal are given simultaneously 
throughout the building by pressing a series of electric 
buttons : or the principal may ring for a messenger from 
any particular room. Speaking tubes are to be found in a 
few places. These conveniences have been introduced into 
a few superior buildings in Germany. 

The principal's oflice and teachers' retiring rooms are 
always comfortably if not handsomely furnished. All these 
things must be considered when comparing the salaries of 
teachers. 

One almost invariable article of "furniture" to be found 
in American school-rooms is Webster's Unabridged Dic- 
tionary, known as "Webster's Unabridged." These are 
not there solely for ornament. Every boy and girl is trained 
and practised in the use of a dictionary ; consequently, 
one does not hear 'the abominable spelling drill which 
announces to the otherwise unconscious passer-by that an 



Schools and School-JIouses. 271 

elementary school is nigh. Spelling books are still used in 
some parts of the States ; but I did not find a class 
"sitting up" like rows of emotionless, expressionless 
automatons, singing in loud tones, "o-f, of; t-e-n, ten — 
of'-fn ; " " c-o-1, col ; o-u-r, our — kid'-er ; " or such contra- 
dictions, from twenty to fifty times, while performing mental 
rehearsals of intended bargains, games, or pranks, when 
school is over. In one London school, I heard a class 
of sixty infants repeat " c-a-t, kat," thirty-three times, using 
the names of the letters, not the sounds. 

It struck me, after seeing a few of the American rooms, 
that their plan of having flat floors and single desks made 
" copying " from each other a less easy operation. I after- 
wards paid attention to this point, and found that my 
observation was correct. With terraced floors, the pupils 
behind can easily see the slate or book of the pupil one 
place to the right in the next row. 

I have not space here to enter at any length into the 
philosophy of copying ; but I believe that the absence of 
the temptation, or unsought opportunity, will remove much 
of the evil. With the terraced floor, the pupil may absent- 
mindedly raise his eyes while thinking ; and as he looks 
round, without intending to do so, catches sight of the solu- 
tion of the problem which is puzzling him. The first time he 
starts, blushes to think of what he has done, and bends his 
eyes to his own slate ; he makes no attempt to copy, but 
in that momentary glance he has received a hint which 
enables him to work out his problem. If this be repeated 
several times, his moral sensibility becomes deadened, 
and accompanying his loss of moral sense is the loss of 
power to work on his own account. His mind becomes 
atrophied, necessity now compels him, and he becomes the 
shameless confirmed copier. With a level floor, single 
desks, and pupils properly seated, a boy must exercise 
more direct effort to benefit by his fellow-scholar's work. 



272 Teaching in Three Continents. 

I do not speak of the few boys and girls who will exercise 
patience, effort, and ingenuity over copying sufficient, if 
properly directed, to do the work twice over. Such cases 
are, happily, comparatively rare, and as difficult to account 
for as kleptomania. Generally speaking, copying is the 
result of bad teaching, or unsought opportunity, or a com- 
bination of the two ; and consequently, not the pupil, but 
the architect and teacher are to blame. 



CHAPTER XI 



ORGANISATION OF SCHOOLS. 

Position of Teachers in the States Schools.— Teachers in Enghsh Schools. — 
Number of Pupils under one Teacher. — Proportion of Boys to Girls in 
America, England, and Australia. — Compulsion in France, Germany, 
England, and the States. — Attendance and Compulsion. 

Organisation, a complex and difficult task in connection 
with English and Australian schools, where two or more 
classes have to be taught in one room, and where a portion 
of the staff consists of inexperienced boy and girl apprentices, 
is a simple matter in American schools. There all teachers 
are at least eighteen years of age (generally a year or two 
older) ; and each, whether trained or not, has to take charge 
of a class, and be responsible for it. The classes, too, are 
small, it being an exception to find more than fifty in a room. 
The general plan is for new teachers, if inexperienced, to 
commence with the primary grade, and work up as they gain 
experience. In one or two places, however, I found an 
excellent plan in force for securing the best teaching where 
it is most needed, and the poorer in grades where it can do 
least harm. This system is in force in the St. Louis 
schools, being, I believe, one of the many reforms intro- 
duced by Dr. W. T. Harris when he was Superintendent of 
the city. There are no Result Examinations in the city ; pro- 
motion is continually taking place. As soon as a child is con- 
sidered capable of the work of the next class he is put into it. 
It is considered that the best teaching is reqin?'ed 7vhen a child 
first goes to school^ because then the foundation for all after- 
work is being laid ; and during the last years of school life, 
s 



2 74 Teaching in Three Continents. 

because be is then receiving the impression with which he 
will go into the business of life. The majority do not enter 
a higher school. If poor teaching is to be tolerated, let it 
be placed where it can do least harm, say these authorities ; 
and that they consider to be in the intermediate grades. 
The pupils, having been under skilful teaching previously, 
have had a good foundation on a sound basis of reasoning, 
and will again come under the best influences later on. A 
new teacher is therefore first placed in the highest primary, 
or lowest grammar grade. A knowledge of the adaptability 
of the teacher will decide whether she will be promoted 
towards the upper or lower grades. It makes no difference 
to the status of the teacher whether the promotion be 
towards the senior or junior departments of the school. The 
plan seems a satisfactory one, especially in connection with 
the very fine gradations of classes existing in these schools. 

In a few cases I found an attempt being made to have 
the teachers move from grade to grade with the majority of 
their pupils. I believe the same plan is in operation in a 
few Board Schools in London. One head mistress spoke 
of its merits in very high terms of praise. In brief, her 
argument was an application of the principle " System and 
method are in themselves only empty forms ; to the teacher 
is reserved to breathe into them the life-bringing spirit." It 
was the success of the method in giving a particularly high 
moral tone to this school, which led to my discovery of its 
application. 

The order of the English schools I found to be almost 
invariably good; very often, according to my ideas, 
much too good for the welfare of the children. In 
schools where two or three classes are in one room, it is 
necessary to have this objectionable quietness and soul-de- 
stroying order ; and it has become the standard by which the 
teacher's power of government is judged. It is intimately 
connected with that roughness of treatment, both as to speech 



Organisation of Schools. 275 

and manner, which so grated on my senses in most of the 
Ii)nghsh schools. When I became used to it, I of course 
understood that it is custom, mannerism, habit, and not the 
objectionable assertion of superiority which it at first appeared. 
In the particular school of which I have just spoken — I 
have no doubt it is one of many, although still the exception 
— there appeared to be an entirely different atmosphere. 
Pupils moved — glided would be a better term — from one 
place to another in a perfectly free, but orderly, manner. 
There was an absence of that military regularity about the 
movements, which were, however, not the less rapid. The 
pupils did not have to sit during a lesson as though they had 
all been cast in the same moulds, and joints had been for- 
gotten in the manufacturing. In wording, the orders were 
very similar to the ordinary -, in expression, very different. 
The simple words, " Come here," may mean anything, 
from the domineering command of a narrow-minded 
despot, wrapped in a little brief authority, to the polite 
request of one gentleman to another. I have heard 
the words used with every shade of meaning between these 
two. The actual utterance of such words as " please," 
" thank you," makes no material difference ; it is the tone of 
voice, the expression of the face, the whole bearing of the 
one giving the command or making the request ; and in the 
best schools all commands are merely requests. Authority 
must be felt, not uttered. This is the beauty of the American 
discipline ; and the same thing impressed me before I had 
been long in the school which has called forth these remarks. 
After spending a considerable time watching the work, I 
ventured to express the pleasure my visit had given me ; and 
was informed that all attributed their success to the 
personal influence of the teachers, which was the result of 
the plan of allowing them to remain with the same pupils 
from year to year. The teacher of the fifth standard, for 
example, had had the greater number of her pupils under 



276 Teaching in Three Continents. 

her care for five years. I would not require anyone to tell 
me of that lady's power for good. It was seen in her pupils. 
Her character was written on her class. 

It is this sort of education which will regenerate the 
people. Could we but have the whole of our schools 
— I say "our" without reference to country — under such 
management, all our children under such teachers, 
then in the great mass of humanity there would be 
a realization of the beautiful conception, "And God 
breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a 
living soul," and the mythical Eden of the past would 
become a reality in the glorious Eden of exalted man. I 
have often thought that this same principle is the secret of 
the greater proportion of splendid men who are produced 
in small country schools, with poor appliances, whose teachers 
either have not the learning or the power of command 
sufficient for a city school. They do not produce the 
brilliant superficialities of towns ; but they imbue their 
spirit of trust, inquiry, and thoroughness. The pupil knows 
not that he is clever ; but in his slow way he grows, and, as is 
beautifully idealised by Hawthorne in his " Great Stone 
Face," is honoured by that portion of mankind which is 
always seeking for the best men to lead and teach it. 

Nu7nber of Pupils under a Teacher. 

Few statements are more deceptive than averages ; but 
averages are frequently the easiest — if not most correct — 
form of comparison. So difficult is it to prevent miscon- 
ception, that it is only on account of the strong and general 
interest I have found everywhere on this point, that I have 
decided to insert notes on the subject of the quota of pupils 
to a teacher. I will first quote figures from reports or 
averages drawn from official sources, and then give a few 
of the numbers which I jotted down when visiting different 



Organisation of Schools. 277 

schools. The average number of pupils in daily attendance 
to a teacher in England is twenty-nine, in the United States 
twenty-four, in four chief colonies of Australia, twenty- 
seven. There are so many conditions affecting these aver- 
ages peculiar to each country, that the similarity is somewhat 
remarkable. I am, unfortunately, unable to give the aver- 
age attendance per teacher in France and Germany. 

A more suggestive comparison can be made between the 
number of pupils allowed as a basis on which to cal- 
culate the staff required in a school. This varies very much, 
so that I shall take two or three centres in each country 
which I think may be considered fairly typical. 

The London School Board count thirty pupils in average 
attendance for the head master, sixty for each assistant, and 
thirty for each third and fourth year pupil-teacher. Candidates 
on probation, and first and second year pupil-teachers, are not 
counted in calculating the staff required in a school ; but as 
they assist in teaching, and are paid, they lighten the work 
of the other teachers, and must be taken into consideration 
when making a comparison. The average number of pupils 
to a teacher in London is forty. I have not taken any 
account of the difference between pupil-teachers and pupil- 
teacher probationers. 

The Huddersfield School Board allow twenty-five for 
the head teacher, sixty for each assistant, and twenty-five 
or each pupil-teacher. The average number of pupils in 
average attendance for each teacher employed is thirty. 
This result proved so much less than I expected, that it 
caused me to go over the figures a second time. Even 
then I could not at first understand the great difference 
between the two places. I certainly did not notice any 
difference in the size of the classes in the schools under the 
two Boards, except that in London there are many schools 
without pupil-teachers. This led me to examine the figures 
again, and I found that in Huddersfield forty-one per cent. 



278 Teaching in Three Continents. 

of the whole body of teachers are pupil-teachers, while in 
London — counting the probationers and first and second 
year apprentices who are not included in fixing the staff, 
only twenty per cent, of the total of teachers under the 
board are pupil-teachers. I state this as another example 
of the deceptive nature of averages. 

In South Australia the Department allows a pupil- 
teacher for every thirty, and an assistant for every sixty 
pupils in average attendance. The average number per 
teacher is twenty-five. The number of small schools in the 
country under provisional teachers makes this general 
average of no value for comparison with the schools of 
London or Huddersfield, where all the schools are large. 

In Massachusetts the average number of pupils to a 
teacher is thirty ; in New York, twenty-seven ; in Missouri, 
thirty-two ; in the District of Columbia, forty ; in Dakota, 
twelve. These numbers illustrate the principle, that as soon 
as the schools of thinly-peopled territory are taken into con- 
sideration the average number of pupils to a teacher falls. 
In the District of Columbia, for example, there are only a 
few small schools where it cannot be arranged so that each 
teacher shall have her requisite number, from thirty-five to 
forty-five being usually found in a room. 

In Boston the newest schoolrooms have seating accom- 
modation for from fifty to fifty-four pupils. I usually found 
from forty to fifty in charge of a teacher. For the year 
1889, taking all grades of schools for the year, the average 
attendance per teacher w^as forty. 

I will now give a few examples, which will, I think, be 
typical of the larger centres in the United States. 

The rules and "regulations of St. Louis state that, "In 
the assignment of teachers there shall be an average of at 
least one assistant for each twenty pupils in the Normal 
School; one assistant to each thirty pupils in the High 
School ; one assistant to each fifty pupils in the fifth, sixth, 



Organisation- of Schools. 279 

seventh, and eighth years, and one to each sixty pupils in 
the first, second, third, and fourth years in the District 
School Course. In schools in sparsely settled districts, where 
it is necessary to assign pupils of more than two grades to 
one room, an assistant shall be allowed for each forty pupils 
additional, after the number has reached forty. In each 
case there may be allowed an additional assistant in case of 
an additional number of pupils greater than one-half the 
quota defined in this rule. In a Kindergarten, sixty pupils 
shall entitle the director to one paid assistant, and an 
additional paid assistant for each thirty pupils over sixty. 

" In the coloured schools, having eight rooms or more, 
fifty pupils shall constitute the proper quota for a teacher. 
In all other coloured schools, a teacher will be allowed for 
every forty pupils." 

The average number for the year 1889 was forty-seven 
for each regular teacher. This is exclusive of the special 
teachers, and the large number of unpaid assistants in the 
Kindergartens, who are from seventeen to twenty years of 
age, and are gaining experience for taking positions as 
Kindergarteners. In the Kindergartens, counting those 
who are equivalent to the English pupil-teachers, but 
more matured, there is a teacher for each sixteen or twenty 
pupils. 

It may be interesting to give further details. The 
average number belonging to each English teacher : — in 
the Normal School, thirteen ; in the High School, twenty- 
eight; in the District Schools for white children, forty-nine; 
in the District Schools for coloured children, forty-one. 

I have a record of the numbers of the pupils I saw in a 
number of rooms ; but as I was there during the first and 
second weeks of the school year, they are, probably, not 
fair examples. They vary from thirty to sixty, and the 
average is forty-five. 

In New York city, the average number of pupils to 



2 8o Teaching in Three Continents. 

a teacher, in male Grammar Schools, is thirty-seven; in 
female Grammar Schools, thirty-six ; in mixed Grammar 
Schools, thirty-three ; in Primary Departments, forty-nine ; 
in Primary Schools, forty-six. I saw larger classes in some 
of the New York schools than anywhere else, although I 
am given to understand that the New Jersey schools have 
the unenviable leading position in this respect. I cannot 
say, but the report of the superintendent seems to confirm 
the statement, for he says there are ninety-two rooms, 
having over eighty pupils in them, and very strongly urges 
that such a state of things be no longer allowed to exist. 
Of course he does not infer that the eighty are usually 
under one teacher — in fact, they are not. In Chicago, I 
found the rooms fitted with seats for sixty to sixty-three 
pupils ; but it was not usual for that number to be present 
under one teacher. 

In connection with this, it may be interesting to quote 
the Superintendent of Schools for Chicago, who says in his 
report for 1888: " There seems to be a somewhat prevalent 
opinion in the community that many children are per- 
manently excluded from the benefits of school, owing to 
the want of school accommodation ; that there are some 
fifteen or twenty thousand children, of school age, roaming 
our streets and alleys unable to obtain admission to any 
school. Never was an opinion more unfounded ; none are 
thus cut off from the training and culture of the schools. 
Our rooms are seated for sixty-three pupils, and usually 
contain, in the primary grades, from fifty to sixty children. 
As new pupils are received — as they are almost daily^-the 
number is increased to sixty-five or seventy, when a class 
is doubled. For instance, with a room of seventy pupils, 
forty can attend both sessions, and of the remaining thirty, 
one half come in the morning, and the other in the after- 
noon. With eighty pupils, a division is doubled, with two 
teachers, some forty-five in the morning and the rest in the 



Organisation of Schools. 281 

afternoon. These half-day pupils, with two teachers alter- 
nately hearing classes and doing individual work, make as 
good progress, as I have often expressed the opinion, as 
those who attend all day with a single teacher. We have 
eighty schools, and with the lowest or youngest division 
doubled, there might be eight thousand half-day pupils with 
no detriment, but rather in the interest of the teacher and 
pupil." 

Speaking generally of the very large number of rooms I 
visited, and leaving out, of course, the small schools, it may 
be said that the number of pupils in one room and under 
one teacher ranges from thirty to fifty, the number most 
frequently being about forty-five. In Paris, Dresden, 
Berlin, and Hamburg, I found that the rooms were seldom 
provided with more than fifty seats, and the attendance 
usually ranged from forty to forty-eight. There are excep- 
tions to this, how frequent I cannot say ; but several schools 
were very unevenly divided, in one of which I have made 
a note. Some rooms would only accommodate twenty-eight, 
and others as many as seventy. The average per teacher 
was the same as in other schools, but the numbers were very 
unequally divided, and consequently the work fell more 
heavy on some than others. The average number of pupils 
to a teacher in England compares very favourably with 
other countries ; but this result being due to the number of 
pupil-teachers conveys an erroneous impression. The same 
may be said of Australia. The construction of the rooms is 
such that even when the staff consists largely of assistants, or, 
as in some cases, entirely so, an equitable division of the 
pupils is rarely practicable. The difficulties caused by 
classification are formidable enough, but when the additional 
one of ill-adapted rooms is present, a just distribution of the 
work among the staff is impossible. One great feature of 
the American schools appeared to me to be the evenness 
with which the work is distributed. 



282 Teaching in Three Continents. 

Proportion of Girls and Boys. 

In the schools of the middle and western States 1 was 
struck with the comparatively small proportion of boys in 
the upper classes of the Grammar Schools, and all the 
classes of the Higher Schools, the proportion being smallest, 
however, in the graduating classes. In the eastern states 
the proportion, although still unevenly balanced, was much 
better maintained. In large schools with both primary and 
grammar departments, for example, I frequently counted 
boys and girls in the lower grades, and found that not 
uncommonly there were more boys than girls. As I passed 
upwards this equality decreased until, in the classes com- 
posed of children from ten years and upwards, there was an 
increasing preponderance of girls. It is stated that over 
fifty per cent, of the children who ever enter school leave 
before the age of ten. If this be so, a much larger pro- 
portion of boys do not attend school after that age. 

This result is, of course, due to a variety of influences. 
Some attribute it to the great preponderance of lady 
teachers. This, no doubt, must be taken into account ; but 
I would rather say that the great tendency to employ — or 
rather the necessity of employing — female teachers is but 
another effect of the same influences which have such 
an undesirable result on the attendance of boys at school. 
Another reason not unfrequently assigned was. that the 
character of the work was too bookish, too theoretical, not 
practical enough for the average American boy, who wished 
to be doing something of which he could see the use. 

This naturally leads to the prevalent opinion, which I 
think the correct one. The cause of the boys leaving school 
early is chiefly due to economic and business reasons, and 
points to a condition of things which is anything but satis- 
factory ; and which, if allowed to continue, will have a great 
and undesirable influence on the welfare of the Republic. 



Organisation of Schools. 283 

I sought opinions on the point from three sources — 
teachers, superintendents, and other officials, and business 
men. The business man does not usually take a very wide 
^ iew of education, and is not impressed with its importance. 
The consensus of opinion appears to be that the modern 
development of business and city life has created a demand 
for a vast army of boys for employment, in ways which were 
not known but a short time since. With how much truth I 
cannot say, but it is stated that the employment of boys 
in mills is not nearly so great as formerly, because machinery 
requires more skilled labour to attend to it ; but the progress 
of the nineteenth century inventions, while shutting out 
boys from old employments, has opened new and more 
extensive fields of work. The chief of these are telegraph 
messengers, telephone boys, elevator boys, and bell boys. 
The elevators alone in any of the large cities of America 
require a regular army of boys, whose work is light, but 
hours long. The extent to which these conveniences are 
used in the United States is surprising to one used to 
the English idea of a " lift" being a luxury, not an absolute 
necessity. The telephone, again, necessitates the employ 
ment of a host of attendants. 

Not only has the development of the age drawn on the 
supply of boys in the ways I have indicated ; but there is a 
tendency for the sons of well-to-do men to wish to go to 
business early, so that they may pass through the various 
gradations of office or business work at an early age. When 
for a boy to remain a few years longer at school may mean 
that he will have to take a place in his own father's office 
below a boy who started school with him at the same time, 
but left a few years earlier, it is not to be wondered at if he 
prefers to go to work himself. The nation will have to pay 
the penalty for this sacrifice of education and culture to 
business smartness. Were it not that other influences 
diminish this effect, the evil would be greater. Principals 



284 Teaching in Three Continents. 

and superintendents with whom I conversed on this subject 
recognised the danger, and said it was one of the problems 
constantly before educators. This is one of the minor 
arguments used by the advocates of manual training. 

After spending a morning in a large, splendidly conducted, 
mixed grammar school in Chicago, where some twelve hundred 
boys and girls were taught entirely by lady teachers under a 
lady principal, and where I had been pleased to observe 
that the number of the boys equalled that of the girls, I 
mentioned the fact that I had not found it usual for the 
boys to equal the girls in numbers, and wished to know 
whether there was any special reason for the different state 
of things in that particular school. The supervisor of 
drawing for the city was present at the time, and the 
manner in which these ladies discussed the question, clearly 
indicated that it was no new one, but that the principal 
took very considerable pride in having succeeded in main- 
taining the equality of numbers as she had. She said it was 
only done at the expense of hard work in continually 
impressing the boys, from the time they enter school, with 
the idea that a few extra years at school will pay them in 
the end, and by making the work of the school as interesting 
and practical as possible. She said : *' Boys are more 
thorough than girls, look for reasons more, seek novelty, 
and dislike details, and if they are not satisfied in these 
respects, they leave." If manual work were put into the 
schools, she thinks that besides its value in itself as a means 
of education, it would have a tendency to make the boys 
think they were doing work which would be of practical 
value to them in after-life, and they would remain at school. 

To realise the force of these observations, it must be borne 
in mind that the American boy himself has much more to do 
with determining how long he shall go to school than does his 
English or Australian cousin. Money, that is, school fees — 
no small item in either of the two places mentioned — has 



Organisation of Schools. 285 

no influence in America, where the schools are free. The 
young people in the United States begin to think of the 
realities, the business of life, at an age when those elsewhere 
have few thoughts for anything but play ; consequently the 
boys wish to go to business as early as possible, while the 
girls for the same reason remain at school, that they may fit 
themselves for earning, a living by one of the many occupa- 
tions open to them. As a gentleman in San Francisco, the 
father of three lady college graduates, remarked, " It costs 
no more to keep a girl at school and college than at home 
— in fact, less ; were she at home, she would be entering 
into all sorts of expensive amusements, for which she has no 
time while at college. Then if she does well and cares to 
take up a profession, or if there should be need for her to 
do so, she is provided for ; and if she has no need, she is 
still the better woman for her educational training." 

To test the accuracy of my observations, I have made a 
careful study of the figures relating to High Schools in the 
State of Illinois. I find that there were in 1888 five 
thousand four hundred and four male, and nine thousand nine 
hundred and twenty-four female pupils ; that is, thirty-five 
per cent, only were males. I then took the figures for each 
year, and found that for every hundred girls there 
were, in the first year, sixty-four, or thirty-nine per cent., 
boys ; in the second year, fifty-three, or thirty-four per cent. ; 
in the third year, forty-seven, or thirty-two per cent. ; in the 
fourth year, forty, or twenty-eight per cent. ; and in the fifth 
year, only thirty-nine, or twenty-eight per cent., were male 
pupils ; while for every hundred girls who graduated, 
only thirty-two, or twenty-four per cent, of boys completed 
their high school course. 

After leaving the United States, I found the following 
confirmation of my observations in the October number of 
the Century Magazi?ie : — 

"American boys usually leave school before they are 



2 86 Teaching in Three Continents. 

fourteen years old. Boys find the utilities lacking in the 
schools, and they are tempted to leave them as soon as 
they are al)le to understand the dominant conditions of 
society. . . . Less than twenty per cent, of American 
boys enter high school, and less than half this percentage 
complete the course. Not one-twentieth graduate." 

In connection with this fact, and being, if not largely 
due, certainly considerably influenced by it, is the position 
women take in the United States. There is no doubt but 
that they take a place in the nation not accorded to them 
in any other country. This is not a case of usurpation on 
the one hand, or gracious permission on the other. It is as 
much the working of a natural law, as that in any time ot 
crisis the strongest man, whatever his former position, 
surely gravitates to the head, and becomes the controlling 
spirit. 

I did not come to this conclusion at once ; but it fol- 
lowed on the gradual conviction that, as a body, the women 
of the United States are better educated than the men, and 
therefore better fitted to take many positions elsewhere 
filled by men — positions which, by a natural adjustment of 
conditions, are handed over to their charge. This con- 
firms what I have often read and heard stated, that in no 
other country are women as a whole treated with such uni- 
versal respect as in the United States, and nowhere do 
they maintain their position with greater dignity, and 
conscious yet unpretentious, power. 

Compulsion. 

In all countries where elementary education has made 
great progress, except the United States^ instruction in the 
elementary branches of knowledge is compulsory ; and in 
America those States which have made the greatest progress 
in public education have aftirmed the same principle. 



Organisation of Schools. 287 

In France attendance at school is compulsory from the 
tune of leaving the infant school until the child is thirteen 
years of age ; and he cannot go to work more than six 
hours a day until he is fifteen, unless he has passed the 
compulsory test. If, however, he has his " compulsory 
certificate " he may be free at eleven. 

In Germany the law varies. In Hamburg, attendance is 
compulsory from six to thirteen years of age ; in Saxony, the 
same. In Baden, Zurich, Bavaria, and other provinces, 
boys and girls leaving school at twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, 
are required to attend the evening "■ Continuation Schools " 
several years more. The essential principle in Germany is 
that a child shall attend school as many years as possible 
under good teaching, rather than that he shall be prepared 
for an examination. Much of the superiority of the 
German education is attributed to this fact. The German 
authorities endeavour to ascertain how the children are 
taught, the English what they are taught. The German 
inspector pays more attention to methods, the English to 
results. 

In England a child must attend school at five ; when he 
has passed the fourth standard he may work half-time ; 
after passing the fifth standard he may leave altogether. 
In manufacturing districts, the majority of children are said 
to commence work in the factories for half the day at ten 
years of age ; but, although only attending school half-time, 
make equally rapid progress in the compulsory subjects 
with those who are at school the whole day, so that at 
eleven years of age the larger proportion of children are 
exempt from attendance at school. There is a growing 
feeling in favour of extending the school age, and 
adopting the German plan of evening Continuation 
Schools. Attendance is compulsory to the age of four- 
teen, unless the fifth standard is passed before. 

The State of Massachusetts' compulsory law makes 



2 88 Teaching in Three Continents. 

attendance obligatory for twenty weeks in the year between 
the ages of eight and fourteen, under a penalty not exceeding 
twenty dollars ; but if the parent neglecting to comply with 
the law " was unable by reason of poverty to send such child 
to school, or if he has attended a private school, or if his 
physical or mental condition renders it impracticable, such 
penalty shall not be incurred." (All these reasons are valid 
in England except poverty.) That does not relieve the 
child from the need of education or the parent from the 
obligation of allowing him to have it. The authorities then 
find a home for both in the poor-house. The minimum of 
attendance is just half that of England, where four hundred 
half-day attendances are necessary to comply with the law. 
The law, as far as I could learn, is well carried out, and 
the proportion of children who do not attend any school in 
Massachusetts is small. With reference to the law, one of 
the superintendents says, "The means for compelling the 
attendance of pupils are as complete as they can well be 
made. . . . But with all these appliances for securing 
school attendance, the chief reliance is the influence of the 
teacher in making the exercises of the school profitable and 
pleasing ; and the influence of the parents who desire for 
their children the best that is within their reach." 

All the North Atlantic division of States except Penn- 
sylvania; all the North Central except Indiana, Iowa, and 
Missouri ; all the Western^ except Colorado, Arizona, Utah, 
and Oregon, have compulsory laws. None of the Southern 
States have legislation in this direction. The laws are in a 
large degree inoperative, owing to the want of accommoda- 
tion, and the absence of a public opinion. The children 
most in need of education consequently receive none. 

The law of Idaho requires that children between eight 
and fourteen shall attend school for at least twelve weeks, 
eight of which shall be consecutive, under a penalty of from 
five to fifty dollars ; but the Superintendent said he had not 



Organisation of Schools. 289 

heard of a fine having been collected. He believes the law- 
is of no benefit. In Nebraska the law is more recent, and 
appeared to be supported by public opinion. It enacts that 
school must be taught by a qualified teacher for at least 
three months in a district having less than thirty-five child- 
ren, six months if there are from thirty-five to one hundred 
pupils, and nine months if there are over one hundred 
pupils. It appears that nearly four thousand schools are 
open over six months, five hundred from four to six months, 
and nine hundred from three to four months. 

The New Jersey law requires school to be open at 
least nine months, but I did not ascertain the number of 
days children have to attend. I was informed that over 
one-fourth of the children of school age do not attend 
school at all ; but I cannot say whether this refers to the age 
for free attendance, which is from five to eighteen, or the age 
for compulsory attendance, which is from five to fifteen. 

New York has a compulsory law embracing children 
between the ages of eight and fourteen, but such a law is of 
necessity inoperative when in many of the cities there is 
not sufficient accommodation for the children. I was 
informed that in September of 1888, three thousand eight 
hundred and seventy- three children were refused admission 
to the schools of New York City alone. If there be such 
a number of children who wish to attend, there must be 
great numbers who do not. In cities such as New York 
the difficulty of providing school accommodation is con- 
siderable. I saw a number of schools nearly empty which 
were too full a few years since. The city is long and 
narrow, and the population moves northwards as the city 
grows, leaving the schools in the south empty, while there 
is an outcry for room in the newer districts. 

In Rhode Island I was informed that about one-fifth of 
the children between seven and fifteen do not attend school. 
Nevertheless, the law says all must attend for at least twelve 

T 



290 Teaching in Three Continents. 

weeks, the school age being from seven to fifteen. The 
school regulations of the town of Newport direct that " the 
Truant officer shall endeavour to procure the attendance at 
school of all the children of the city who are required by 
law to attend school, and especially such as are not mem- 
bers of any school, visiting them at their homes or places 
of employment, or looking after them in the streets for this 
purpose ; and he shall, by persuasion and argument both 
with the children and their parents, and if possible by other 
means than legal compulsion, strive to secure such attend- 
ance ; when he is unable to do this he must report to the 
School Committee, who have power to order the arrest of 
the offender." 

Pennsylvania has no compulsory law, and the Superin- 
tendent says, " After making all due allowance for those 
who attend private schools, this (increase) still leaves a 
large number of children of school age who attend no 
school." The length of the school year in Pennsylvania, 
exclusive of Philadelphia (which is ten months), is a little 
over seven months. 



Attendance a?td Compulsion, 

The President of the Board of Directors for the city of 
St. Louis, in his last report, says : — 

" A careful inquiry was made by the Board from all 
available sources of information to ascertain the number of 
children between the ages of six and twelve in the city who 
were not in attendance in any school. The principals of 
the schools made investigations in their respective localities, 
and the police authorities cordially co-operated with investi- 
gations of their own. Averaging the number of estimates 
thus reported, we obtain what may be deemed a fair approxi- 
mation of the number, to wit, about 9,500, between the ages 
of six and twelve, who were not attending any of the schools 



Organisation of Schools. 291 

of the city. So impressed was the Board with the import 
ance of remedying this evil, that it urged the General 
Assembly to enact laws prohibiting the employment of child 
labour, and for the enforcement of compulsory attendance 
at school." 

The principals of the schools joined in the recommenda- 
tion, but neither of the laws was enacted. 

" The recommendation of the compulsory education law 
was not unanimous. Several members of the Board, in- 
cluding myself, believed that it was wiser first to enact a law 
regulating child labour and ascertain its results, before 
attempting so radical an interference with parental authority ; 
and, furthermore, that such a law would be futile without a 
sustaining local public opinion which could render its 
administration a success." 

I found considerable feeling in Illinois respecting com- 
pulsion. In the neighbouring State of Missouri, I was 
assured that any attempt to pass a compulsory law would be 
futile. That it was opposed to the idea the "imported 
Americans " had of liberty. They had come from every 
country in Europe to be free, and are giving Americans a 
bad name for not being able to distinguish between liberty 
and licence. Said one gentleman to me, " If the right 
thinking and more intelligent people would take but a 
portion of the trouble and interest in politics which the 
ignorant hoards of foreigners, who cannot even speak the 
language of the country, are made to do by unprincipled 
designing politicians, the power of the latter which causes 
all the frauds and chicanery would be gone. In times of 
danger these men lose their vocation, but it requires so 
much to rouse the best people to do their duty that the land 
is often not ruled by its best men. At the same time the 
publicity of life in America, and the sensational nature of 
press writing, undoubtedly gives outsiders a wrong im- 
pression of the country." I fully agree with this statement. 
T 2 



292 Teaching in Three Continents. 

In Missouri, however, they have adopted an even greater 
reform than a compulsory education law. In future, elections 
are to be conducted by the secret system of ballot, known 
all through America as the Australian Ballot, thus giving 
honour to the country which first adopted it. In view of 
this I shall not be surprised at any time to hear that the 
State has affirmed the principle of compulsory education : 
but it will be a long time before it can be carried out in a 
satisfactory manner as under the English and Australian 
laws. 

But to return to Illinois. A compulsory law has been 
in force for some years ; but, as might be expected, it was to 
a large extent inoperative. Still it affirmed a principle, and 
last year a new law was passed, which, it is believed, will be 
properly enforced throughout the State. The importance of 
this step, in the interests of the States, cannot be exaggerated. 
When one reads all that is said about it, he is apt to con- 
clude that a piece of Russian despotism has been trans- 
planted ; but this is all that is required : " i. Every person 
must send his children to school for at least sixteen weeks 
during the year, provided they are between the ages of 
seven and fourteen years. 2. He must send them con- 
secutively (regularly) for at least eight weeks. 3. The 
time for sending such children to school shall commence 
with the beginning of the first term of the school year. 
For every neglect of such duty the parent may be fined, or 
sent to jail until the fine is paid." 

This law which " infringes the liberty of the subject " 
provides for about half the compulsion which public opinion 
so freely supports in equally if not more democratic Aus- 
tralia. It is difficult, when considering such aspects of 
American life, not to misjudge the whole people. 

Referring to this law, a writer in Education says : — 
" Chicago people are trying to be very wise in executing the 
Compulsory Education Law. A committee of women from 



Organisation of Schools. 293 

the Women's Club, presided over by Mrs. Tuley, wife of 
Judge Tuley, have undertaken to clothe the children who 
otherwise would be kept from school on account of in- 
sufficient or unsuitable apparel. Where the family are in 
need of the child's earnings, attendance at the night school 
is accepted. The Board discard the name Truant Officer 
and use Attendance Agent ; and these officers are instructed 
to use friendly methods in their work ; and avoid, as far as 
possible, any needless compulsion. About one-half of these 
officers are women, and are proving themselves very 
efficient in winning the children to the schools. Suffering 
and worthy families are thus discovered that probably would 
not be found by the charity organisations." 

There can be no doubt but that the United States are very 
greatly behind other nations in allowing a large number of 
children to grow up in ignorance. I have spoken in warm 
terms of praise of the pleasing features I noticed, and which 
cannot fail to attract the attention of an inquirer. The 
expenditure is liberal, though the money is spent more 
freely on buildings than in payment of teachers. The 
former are not a bit too good ; but the latter should be 
better paid. It is gratifying to find how large a proportion 
of the children attend because of their appreciation of the 
advantages of school \ but the poor beings who, more than 
any others, need teaching, receive no benefit from the 
Public Schools. 

In England it is different. The rich pay for their 
children, and educate them as they like. Good, cheap 
schools are provided for those of limited means, and poor 
children who would never know the inside of a school are 
made to attend, and the effect of the law on the mass of 
people is already seen. Whether their clothes are ragged or 
whole, whether they have boots or are barefooted, the law 
says they must attend school, and the School Boards insist 
on their doing so. It presses heavily at times, but it is the 



2 94 Teaching in Three Continents. 

hardship of kindness. The authorities of Liverpool collect 
such into special schools, where provision is made for regular 
baths and meals. The schools are open early in the morn- 
ing and do not close until late in the evening, so that the 
poor children, who would otherwise be confined to miserable 
dirty homes, or running wild in the cold streets, are gathered 
in warm schools, taught the virtue of soap and water, and are 
not only instructed in ordinary lessons, but are provided 
with nourishing food and taught to use their hands in useful 
employments. 

One additional point deserves consideration here. To 
some extent it has received attention in the extracts I have 
quoted. It frequently occurred to me that the efforts to 
make the schools popular and attractive increased as the 
means for enforcing compulsory attendance decreased. 
Lacking compelling power, the authorities have used the 
force of attraction. I also almost invariably found that 
one of the strong incentives to attend punctually and 
regularly was a rule to the effect that a few days' absence 
would entail suspension from school. Thus the rules for 
St. Louis state that, '' cleanliness in person and clothing 
is required of every pupil ; and repeated neglect or refusal 
to comply with this rule will be sufficient cause for sus- 
pension from school." 

"Any pupil who shall be absent four half-days in one 
month ; or who is repeatedly tardy and without giving an 
excuse satisfactory to the teacher, may be suspended from 
the school by the principal. 

" No pupil shall be allowed to be absent more than one 
day to attend any picnic party, and only when previous re- 
quest for the same has been made to the teacher by the 
parent of the pupil. Any violation of this rule shall be 
deemed sufficient cause for suspension. 

" Any pupil guilty of disobedience may be suspended." 

I might quote from the rules of many of the cities I 



Organisation of Schools. 295 

visited in illustration of the same principle. The right to 
force a parent to send his child to school is denied by many 
who consider that they have the power to prevent him from 
doing so miless he conforms to their opinion as to the fre- 
quency of his attendance. To say that it is an interference 
with the liberty of the individual to insist on the education 
of every child, when not only the well-being, but the safety 
of the nation as a free self-governing Republic depends on 
the intelligence of the people ; and at the same time to adopt 
a rule whereby a pupil may be suspended from membership 
of a school for attending more than one picnic a year, in- 
volves a nicety of distinction of which I am not capable. 
As the majority of the people are willing to conform to such 
rules, it must surely be a very forced sentiment which causes 
them to object to a compulsory law. Indeed, I strongly 
suspect that it is a combination of indifference and cringing 
to an ignorant minority, which prevent the adoption of the 
needful reform. 

English Esthnate of American Education.' 

I believe that the average Englishman forms far too low 
an estimate of American education. Particularly is this true 
with regard to the Universities. For this he, or rather his 
insular character, is not more to blame than the American's 
love for high-sounding phrases and titles, which have caused 
the misconception. This love of effect has prompted him 
to use, in trivial matters, expressions which, to English minds, 
convey a much higher meaning. For example, the term 
" graduate " conveys to an English mind the idea of one 
who has taken a college course, and received the hall mark 
of a university degree. When, therefore, he hears an 
American boy or girl of fourteen talking about having 
" graduated," his notions of propriety receive a shock. It 
is an innovation, and he does not like innovations except 



296 Teaching in Three Continents. 

when brought in with proper decorum and powerful patron- 
age. As a matter of fact, the American boy thinks no more 
of " graduating " than the Leeds lad does of passing his 
seventh standard; but his appropriation of a term used only 
in the higher exclusive sense seems to give liim an air of 
presumption. 

Again, one hears of the teacher in charge of an or- 
dinary public school spoken of as the " principal," a term 
which, in England, designates the head of a more preten- 
tious seat of learning : "head master" being used in elemen- 
tary and middle class schools. Then, the terms "faculty" 
and " alumni " are used with great deference in the older 
land. To the conservative Britisher, with his decorous re- 
spect amounting almost to reverence for the old associations 
of expressions connected with profound learning, it seems 
undignified and little short of ridiculous, to hear the teachers 
of a high school spoken of as " professors," the staff as the 
" faculty," and the pupils, boys and girls of from fourteen to 
eighteen, "alumni.^* These are but small matters, and with 
American associations are perfectly natural, but afford a field 
for the satirist. On the other hand, they are quite as im- 
portant as many of the points which give the American 
equally false ideas of England. 

The official statistics show that an immense number of 
untrained teachers are taken into even the city schools of 
the States each year ; and the reader unacquainted with 
the country draws a reasonable inference that the teaching 
must be very poor. But what would happen if the English 
Board schools were practically staffed each year with raw 
untrained material of the same character as the present 
teachers, but without their special experience, throws little 
light on the American condition of things. A group of 
Arabs looks picturesque in an oasis of the desert; but 
place it in Ludgate Circus, with lamp-posts substituted for 
palms, and London fog for sunshine, and a scarecrow has 



Organisation of Schools. 297 

charms as great. Things can only be judged in their 
environment. 

Another source of misconception is the supposed cha- 
racter — I am not in a position to state what foundation 
now exists for the opinion — which many of the institutions 
called colleges or universities have for rapidly transforming 
working men of ambition into graduates with LL.D., 
Ph.D., D.D., etc., tacked on to their names, leading to the 
statement that it is a greater distinction to have no degree 
than to be an American doctor of laws. When talking of 
this, a gentleman of exceptional ability said : " Fools 
enough in all conscience manage to obtain degrees in 
England, with all the exclusiveness of our Universities ; 
what must it be where the strictures are absent?" I will 
not answer the question; but may it not be that the fool 
is in the same position on both sides of the Atlantic? — 
he does not differ greatly the world over — but that after 
the degree has been won the man has still to prove his 
worth for practical purposes of life, or there will be no use 
for him any way, whether he be in one or the other country. 
I have not found it to be a cardinal doctrine of belief 
among the University men of England that undergraduates 
always make study their chief purpose at college. In some 
way, and with various aids, they " get through." Many of 
these afterwards settle down to work, and carve out names 
for themselves. They are not the *' fools " my friend spoke 
of, and yet they did not deserve the degree at the time they 
received it. Now if this can be, it is possible that a man — 
although he has been but a carpenter and lacks that inde- 
scribable bearing, nowhere acquired as at the great Uni- 
versities, which marks the EngHsh gentleman — by his 
natural ability, wide reading, and much seclusive study, in 
the course of three years' hard work such as a physically 
strong man, urged by ambitious motives, can endure, may 
actually earn a far higher degree than those who have done 



298 Teaching in Three Continents. 

the compulsory work of Cambridge, and who, by being 
well coached up, at the end of the term "got through," 
may be, fairly well. Were I to judge the English University- 
man by the young men, not a few, with whom I have 
travelled ; and the American by the Doctors, Masters, 
or Bachelors who commenced life as tradesmen or farmers, 
first earning the money with which they paid their expenses 
at college, I should not hesitate long in deciding that the 
latter were the better men. But I would be doing equal 
injustice in each case. Yet the ideas held of each other by 
the average subject or citizen of the two great divisions of 
the English race is not any more correct than the absurd 
example I have given. Did each understand the other, 
much ridicule on each side would be turned to admiration. 



CHAPTER XII 



EXTRA-OFFICIAL EDUCATION WORK. 

Natural History Societies : — Huddersfield School Board. — Worcester, 

Massachusetts. — The Agassiz Association. 
School Museums. — Arbor Day. — School Libraries. — Pupils' Reading Circles. 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 

In connection with the Huddersfield School Board there 
is a flourishing Natural History Society. Its origin and 
vigour, as is usual in such cases, are due to the work of a 
few enthusiasts. During the summer the members meet for 
country rambles on alternate Saturday afternoons, and in 
winter on alternate Saturday evenings for botanical and 
entomological study. Each member is supposed to provide 
himself with a notebook in which to record observations made 
in the country walks, such as the first blooming of flowers, 
the first appearance of migratory birds and insects, etc. 
It is enjoined on members that they shall not wantonly kill 
or injure any living creature ; shall not take birds' eggs from 
a nest unless they are really needed for a natural history 
collection, and in that case shall not take more than half of 
the eggs found in any nest ; and that members shall consider 
it their duty to provide a wooden trough, into which all the 
crumbs of the household shall be transferred, especially in 
winter, for the use of wild birds. 

The following extract from the report of Mr. S. B. Tait, 
the School Board Inspector, indicates the character of the 
work of the society : — 



300 Teaching in Three Continents. 

"The Huddersfield Board Schools Natural History 
Society, which owes its existence to Mr. S. L. Mosley, has 
been reorganised during the past year. Last year, as 
pointed out in my report, the numbers had become too 
unwieldy, especially in the summer rambles, to be success- 
fully managed and instructed by any one person. With 
fewer members, the work has been more thorough. The 
meetings, instead of being held for six months only, as was 
formerly the case, are now held throughout the year. The 
Society has been divided into two sections, one for the 
study of insect life, under the direction of Mr. Mosley ; 
the other for the study of botany, under Mrs. Rawlings, 
who kindly volunteered her services. The consecutive 
class-lessons which have been given on these subjects are 
more likely to be productive of permanent benefit than the 
lectures of former years, which, extremely interesting as 
they were, did not form a connected course. Excursions 
of the two sections have taken place on Saturday afternoons 
in the summer months, and there was an enjoyable picnic 
of members and friends. The flower show which took 
place in July was the most successful, both in the number 
of exhibits and the attendance of visitors, which has yet 
been held. 

" In addition to his work in connection with this Society, 
Mr. Mosley has visited each of the Board schools during 
the winter evenings^ and given a lantern lecture on some 
natural history subject. These lectures have been attended 
by two thousand five hundred children, who have been 
invited to write accounts of the lecture, prizes being offered 
for the best accounts. A number of these papers have 
passed through my hands, and I have been pleased at the 
evident signs of the close attention that the writers must 
have paid to the lecture. 

" The disinterested work which Mr. Mosley has been 
carrying on for five years, in a quiet, unostentatious manner, 



Extra-Official Education- Work'. 301 

among the children attending the Board schools, is deserving 
of recognition. Of the importance of the study itself, Mr. 
Ruskin truly says, 'The study of natural history is one of 
the best elements of education ; there is no child so dull or 
so indolent, but it may be roused to wholesome exertion by 
putting some practical and personal work of natural history 
within its range of daily occupation ; and, when once 
aroused, few pleasures are so innocent, and none so con- 
stant. But we must shozv them things, not tell them 
names. A deal chest of drawers is worth a hundred books 
to them, and a well-guided country walk worth a hundred 
lectures.' It is in this spirit Mr. Mosley has worked ; and 
there are children now passing out of our schools, who will 
remember with gratitude in after-life the direction which he 
has given to their tastes, and how he has taught them to see 
the beauty in the world about them, which the unobservant 
eye lets pass unnoticed." 

The evening meetings of the society are held in the 
Grove Hill Board school, one of the best situated, hand ' 
somest, and best finished Board schools I have seen in 
England during two lengthy visits. It is built on a plan 
which I do not think will become general on account of the 
expense, even if it were desirable. There is a large central 
hall, capable of holding about eight hundred children, which 
is lighted from the roof, and is surrounded on three sides 
by class-rooms to accommodate about sixty children. Those 
on the ground floor open directly from the floor of the hall, 
the doors having glass panels for easy supervision. The 
upper rooms open from a gallery running round the room. 
From one end a door opens on to a small outside balcony, 
from which the eye of the observer ranges for miles over 
a scene the like of which is probably not to be found out of 
England. To the right the view extends for miles up a 
valley, through which, in years gone by, a crystal stream 
meandered its peaceful way through the Pennine hills. 



302 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The stream has been enlarged and straightened ; the Hmpid 
water is now a black decoction of logwood and other dyes ; 
for, as far as the eye can reach, its course is marked by an 
avenue of tall chimneys, each indicating a v/ooUen mill. 
This view in the heart of the " Backbone of England " is 
not without a weird grandeur, particularly just at dusk on a 
clear winter's evening, when the mills are illuminated with 
thousands of lights. Even in the day-time, despite the 
destruction of natural beauty, and the substitution of the 
sameness and smoke of mills, the scene is fascinating. But it 
is the thought which the sight brings to the visitor's mind 
which holds his attention, as his eye wanders over this hive 
of restless industry. Each of the immense ugly piles of 
brick and stone, with its scores of windows, encloses a scene 
rivalling that of a beehive for system and wonderful manipu- 
lative skill. No wonder Yorkshire and Lancashire are rich, 
when one can travel for days and find every valley, every 
stream similarly guarded. 

But to return to the hall, the walls of which are decorated 
with a great variety of pictures and specimens illustrative of 
natural history, some of which deserve a detailed notice. 

Miss E. A. Ormerod, F.R.S., has shown her appreciation 
of the work of the society by presenting it with a series of 
large hand-drawn and painted diagrams illustrative of the 
life-history of some insects injurious to agriculture, includ- 
ing greatly magnified drawings of the onion fly, pea and 
bean weevil, American blight, turnip moth, and bean aphis, 
in their various stages. 

An equally striking series, also drawn by the same lady — 
whose work in connection with proving the practical value 
of entomology to the agricultural community is so well 
known — but printed and published by the Royal Agricul- 
tural Society, includes large diagrams and illustrations of 
such pests as the beet fly, cabbage l)utterfly, wireworm, hop 
aphis, wish ladybird, crane-fly or daddy longlegs, and others. 



Extra-Official Education Work. 303 

Each illustration is accompanied with a boldly printed 
description of the life-history of the insect depicted. For 
example, the sheet devoted to the beet fly gives greatly 
magnified illustrations of the female fly, eggs, larva or grub, 
pupa, and a natural-size illustration of the leaf injured by 
the grub, together with the following notes : — 

" The eggs are laid under the leaves, and produce grubs. 
The grubs eat their way into the substance of the leaf, where 
they live about a month, causing large blisters, which turn 
brown, or the skin of the leaf dies. When full grown, the 
grubs change to pupae either in the leaf or about three 
inches beneath the surface of the ground, from which (in 
the summer) the flies emerge in about ten days. Flies 
first appear from March to May, to produce several later 
broods. 

'■^Remedies. — Keep up a vigorous growth by dressing 
with mineral superphosphate, guano, or soot, and give appli- 
cations of paraffin. If plants are attacked young, the injured 
ones should be thinned out and destroyed before the 
grubs can leave them, thus preventing a second attack." 

The value of such information being diffused in agricul- 
tural districts cannot be over-estimated. 

The room also contains cases of the moths, butterflies, 
and beetles of the district^ properly named. One set of cases 
contain typical specimens or species of insects, with direc- 
tions how to identify. There are also illustrations of 
British birds, with letterpress giving food, habits, etc., 
besides many other objects which speak of a very valuable 
work among the young people. 

A Recreation Society in connection with the York 
Place Higher Grade School, Brighton, deserves mention 
because it again illustrates the fact, too frequently un- 
noticed, that boys are as willing to engage in the more 
profitable recreations as in the too prominent — so far as 
Australia is concerned — football and cricket. The society 



304 Teaching in Three Continents. 

which I have mentioned has branches for cricket, football, 
literary work and chess, natural history, and swimming. The 
Natural History Club, as usual, owes its success and vigour to 
the enthusiasm of two or three of the teachers. It matters 
not whether it be in Europe, America, or Australia that 
the inquiry be made, the same answer is received. 
The only successful teachers of natural science are the 
lovers of it. Children like natural history, and will always 
follow one who can introduce them to her secrets ; but 
these appear to be exceptional. Mr. E. B. Lethbridge, 
F.R.G.S., the head master of the school, appears to 
be one of the few enthusiasts able to infuse his spirit 
into the boys. The school is a perfect storehouse 
of treasures for illustrating all branches of natural his- 
tory ; and the specimens are so catalogued that every teacher 
can readily refer to any object, from a human skull to a 
piece of flint, with which to illustrate his lesson. Not only 
are the means of illustration provided, but their use is 
insisted on. Three-fourths of the benefit of having speci- 
mens are lost when a teacher uses them under compul- 
sion ; but it is advantageous to have the remaining fourth. 
Work is carried on indoors during the winter months by 
means of lectures, conversaziones, and so on ; while, in 
summer, rambles take place every fortnight. Time would 
not permit me to remain in Brighton in order to attend one 
of the meetings ; but I saw enough to convince me that 
the club must be doing a valuable work. 

The description I have given of these two societies, 
selected because I think they are typical, will be sufficient 
to indicate the character of the supplementary work being 
done by many similar organisations all over England. 
Their existence is probably unknown to the Education 
Department ; but they are exerting a quiet and unobtrusive, 
but not the less valuable and permanent, influence on the 
welfare of many hundreds of young people. 



Extra-Official Education Work. 305 

Worcester (U'.S.) Natural History Camp. 

The object of the Worcester Natural History Society in 
estabhshing their summer camp for boys, was to afford a 
pleasant and profitable place for boys to spend a part, or the 
whole, of their summer vacation. 

The first camp was pitched in the summer of 1885, under 
the direction of the president. Dr. W. H. Raymenton, and, 
since then, has grown in numbers, efficiency, and resources — 
until it has attracted the attention of many of the foremost 
educators, literary men, and scientists of the United States. 

The camp is situated on the west shore of Lake 
Quinsigamond, on the old camping and fishing grounds of 
the Nipmuck Indians. The spot is one of great beauty, 
and is all that could be desired from a sanitary point of view. 
The tents are pitched on dry, gravelly soil at the foot of 
Wigwam Hill, where the afternoon sun throws the shade of 
the wooded hillside over the camp. The whole region is a 
" haunt and nesting-place for birds," a tract of wooded hills 
and upland pastures, clear streams, and lakes, which offer 
every variety of occupation to boys who love outdoor life. 

Boys of the school age, from ten to twenty years, can 
join the camp at any time during the season, for one day or 
for the eight weeks it is in session, provided application is 
made in advance. 

The tents used are of the " army-wall " pattern, with 
substantial wood floors and waterproof fly. Each tent will 
accommodate four persons, and is provided with straw 
mattresses, wash-basins, a tin dipper, pail and broom. 
Campers furnish blankets, pillows, towels^ etc. Meals are 
provided in spacious dining tents ; and there is also an 
enclosed pavilion, and large workshop for the use of 
members. The rules provide for every care of the boys; 
and during its existence no casualties have occurred. 

The daily routine is varied. Boys are expected to take 
u 



3o6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

care of tliemselves, to be clean and tidy in person and dress ; 
and keep their quarters neat and orderly. Each must air 
his bed and bedding, make his bed, sweep his floor, hang up 
or fold his clothes, etc. He may do these things after 
his own fashion, but he must do them effectively, regularly, 
and punctually. 

Sufficient drill and light military discipline are enforced as 
an admirable camp tonic ; and, without being burdensome, 
have proved very advantageous and popular. Fifteen 
minutes per day are also given to gymnastics. 

A variety of occupations are provided for members. 
Lectures are given by speciaHsts in different branches of 
science. Specimens, drawings, the microscope, stereop- 
ticon, and so forth, are all used in illustration. The boys 
are not compelled to attend ; but it has been found by 
experience that many of them do so voluntarily, and nearly 
all such become interested in one or more of the subjects. 

The large, well-lighted, and well-appointed workshop is 
fitted up with benches, lathes, and other appliances, and is 
well supplied with tools. In connection with the workshop 
is a laboratory, where those engaged in collecting specimens 
can prepare them under the direction of experienced 
naturalists. 

There are practical outdoor lessons to teach boys how 
to fish, the habits of game, how to pitch a tent, make a 
camp fire, handle a canoe, and so on. Swimming and 
rowing are carefully taught ; and provision is made for 
healthful games, such as base-ball, lawn tennis, football, and 
athletic contests ; but it is curious that the English and 
Australian summer game, cricket, is not played any more 
here than elsewhere in the United States. A graduate of 
the University of California mentioned, when speaking of 
this subject, that they used to have a club in connection 
with the college ; but the leading players were generally 
young Australians. 



Extra-Official Education Work. 307 

Each week one or more evenings are devoted to 
camp-fire stories, when the members gather round the 
central camp fire to Hsten to the personal experiences of 
hunters, soldiers, naturalists, woodsmen, and others. There 
are also evening entertainments in the pavilion ; and every 
effort is made to make camp life free and buoyant. 

I have purposely omitted to mention the excursions, 
which are one of the most prominent features of the camp. 
There is no doubt that the best way to enlist the interest of 
boys in the study of natural history is to take them out into 
the woods and fields. Pupils and teachers meet on a new 
and different footing, and are much nearer together than in 
the school-room. There is no better way for a boy to learn 
the arts of collecting and preserving specimens, than by 
acting as a sort of jackal to a collector. This may or may 
not be associated with an elevating study of natural history ; 
but although there are many collectors who are not naturalists, 
it is necessary for the naturalist to be, to a certain extent, a 
collector. The leader of an excursion is on quite a different 
footing from a teacher in the ordinary sense. He carries on 
his investigations, which his companions are permitted to 
share, or repeat the process of his own growth, carrying 
them through the same. 



The Agassis Association. 

The Agassiz Association is a society for the observation 
of nature. The organisation is peculiar to itself It may 
be best described, by saying that over ten thousand lovers of 
nature, of all ages, in many countries, have formed over one 
thousand small societies, varying in numbers from two or 
three to over one hundred ; and, although not knowing of 
one another's individual existence, are yet bound together 
in one common organisation by kinship of work and the 
u 2 



3o8 Teaching in Three Continents. 

personality of the president and founder, Mr. H. H. 
Ballard, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S. 

Each incorporated society is known as a Chapter ; and, 
apart from the common name and constitution, is free to 
follow its own peculiar pursuits in any way thought desir- 
able. The smallest number recognised as a Chapter is four ; 
but after a branch has once been admitted, and has con- 
tinued alive for six months, it is not then cut off though 
its membership should decline below four. 

Chapters are to be found in Canada, Japan, Great 
Britain, Russia, and Australia; but their chief home is in 
the United States. 

Family Chapters are formed by the parents and children 
of a single family, who unite for joint study and research. 
There are very many of these, and their effect is very beneficial. 
Somewhat more extended in scope are the School Chapters. 
There are many teachers able and willing to devote their 
energies to fostering a love for study and inquiry out of 
school hours. Such find the Agassiz Association of great 
assistance, and they have done and are doing much good to 
many hundreds of pupils. These Chapters correspond to 
the Natural History Clubs and Societies in connection with 
English schools of which I have spoken. 

Very interesting and profitable Chapters are sometimes 
formed by boys and girls alone, who thus give themselves a 
training in other things besides the study of Nature, for 
they learn to conduct meetings, and generally are benefited 
by the feelings of independence and self-reliance which are 
fostered. Some of these junior Chapters, which conduct 
their own affairs although seeking the advice of older 
friends, have formed attractive and useful museums illustra- 
tive of the natural history of their districts. 

All societies for the promotion of the study of natural 
history with which I am acquainted have originated through 
the energy and love of nature of one or two men or women, 



ExTRA-OpnciAL Education Work. 309 

who have infused their spirit into the ever- ready and 
receptive minds of children. The Agassiz Association is no 
exception. It was first a small society without a name, 
in a country school. What it has become I have already 
indicated. 

Much of its success is due to the handbook of the 
association, known as "The Three Kingdoms," which is 
intended as a guide for young people in making collections, 
preserving and mounting specimens, and giving advice on 
everything in connection with a small natural history 
society. 

School Mnseitms. 

Collections of objects, such as specimens illustrative of 
industrial processes, natural history specimens of various 
kinds, be they minerals, woods, or, under certain conditions, 
representatives of the animal kingdom, and even curiosities, 
may be made very valuable additions to the more ordinary 
equipment of schools. Indeed, rightly selected and used, 
they may be made the most highly educative and interesting 
of the auxiliaries of a teacher's personal influence. I am 
aware that there is probably no part of the belongings of a 
school with regard to which the visitor needs to exercise 
greater caution in forming an opinion of its usefulness. 
They may be the means of adding life and interest to the 
teaching; or they may, like false jewels, simply serve to 
impress the superficial observer. 

When they are the mutual work of the teachers and 
pupils, their appearance may be largely depended on to 
show what value may be attached to them. Where they are 
provided by school authorities more care must be exercised. 
It is by no means the finest collections of specimens which 
are the most useful — or, rather, which may be best utilised. 
The old blunderbuss of the Crimean War type may be more 



3 TO Teaching in Three Continents. 

effective in the hands of a skilled marksman than a Win- 
chester repeater in the hands of a raw recruit. Alind is 
superior to matter, although it needs matter to promote its 
growth ; and the poor means with the capable head are 
better than the most perfect appliances without the interest 
or skill to use them. 

The desire to have a " School Museum " appears to be 
increasing among progressive teachers in the three con- 
tinents, and I think there are signs of distinctive and varying 
tendencies on the two sides of the Atlantic. The move- 
ment has not made sufficient progress in Australia to 
warrant generalising. If my observation be correct, the 
tendency in the United States is to collect natural history 
specimens, especially stuffed birds and other small animals, 
minerals taking an inferior second place, and industrial 
articles being seldom seen. In many schools I saw some 
small but good collections of stuffed birds ; but they were 
frequently ill provided with suitable receptacles, and often 
showed signs of ill-usage. They were apparently frequently 
provided without definite purpose, beyond fulfilling the 
indefinite desire for a school museum to make school life 
more attractive and encourage the study of natural history. 
They are of little use in promoting the latter purpose unless 
there is some method in the selection of specimens. If one 
specimen of each order of birds be included, a foundation is 
laid for systematic study. The names of the orders may or 
may not be taught ; but the way in which the birds are 
classified can be clearly shown, and the need and basis of 
scientific classification will be imparted to the pupils. 

On the whole, I was pleased to see them, because they 
indicate a tendency to recognise that the love and study 
of nature is increasing ; but, on the other hand, I could 
not help sometimes feeling that they were, as used, 
the reverse of educational, because they tended to 
lower the standard of reverence for the sacredness of life. 



Extra-Official Education Work. 311 

In one large school, where I had been pleased to notice 
a good and varied collection of specimens, after I had given 
an address to the senior classes on Australia, I was asked if 
I could place them in communication with some one who 
would send some bird-skins for their museum ; and appar- 
ently introduced the teachers, no less than the pupils, to 
a new line of thought when I replied, that until they had 
studied all that was knowable about the living birds around 
them, they, as well as I, would be guilty of sinful cruelty in 
encouraging the destruction of Australian birds for the mere 
purpose of gratifying their curiosity or seeing what they are 
like. I not only have no objection, but would assist in the 
killing of birds for genuine scientific research ; but I have 
nothing but disapprobation for destroying life for the 
purpose of having specimens in one's collection. It is only 
less barbarous than doing the same thing to decorate one's 
hat. The life-history of the Platypus of Australia {Oniitho- 
rhynchus pa7'adoxtais) is only imperfectly known ; but, owing 
to the curse of the professional collector, it is rapidly being 
exterminated. 

The museums of American public high schools are 
often useful and creditable collections ; but the same defect 
noticeable in the grammar schools is often present. The 
specimens are badly classified, and frequently not named. 

I found that in several of the cities I visited in England 
the School Boards have recognised the value of school 
museums, by providing large and convenient cabinets or 
cases for the reception of specimens, and in some instances 
providing specimens as well. I believe the same thing is 
done in many towns which I did not visit. The collections 
are usually of a very miscellaneous character. Natura 
history predominates in the United States : in England 
specimens illustrative of the industrial arts, articles of com 
merce, and collections of minerals, fossils, and shells are 
most common. Where no proper provision has been made 



312 Teaching in Three Continents. 

for the preservation of specimens, it is not uncommon to 
find a collection of different kinds of grain, spices, tea, 
coffee, and such readily procurable articles, in bottles on 
the mantle-shelves or window-sills. 

Occasionally, the visitor to the schools finds a case in 
which a serious attempt has been made to systematically 
arrange and name specimens ; but usually they are mixed up 
in a very promiscuous fashion. In such cases it is probable 
no one knows just what the cabinets contain, and cannot 
find what is wanted when he does. 

The best type of school museum I saw was at the York 
Place Higher Grade School, Brighton. The collection was 
large, varied, and comprehensive. Specimens were well 
arranged and named ; and a convenient catalogue had been 
prepared for easy reference. I will give an example of its 
use. The head master had carefully prepared a reading 
book for each teacher, marking on the margin various 
instructions with reference to the facilities for illustration to 
be found in the school. Thus S.P. means Show picture, 
S.S. Show specimen, D.D. Draw diagram. Each teacher has 
a catalogue of pictures, indicating where each is to be found ; 
and a catalogue of the museum arranged alphabetically, 
with the room, case, shelf, and number of specimen indicated, 
so that if a reference to mica, for example, occurs in the 
lesson, the teacher will have a specimen ready to show the 
children. The intention is not that the reading lesson shall 
be interrupted to give a lesson on mica ; but that the thing 
itself and the quality mentioned in the lesson may become 
realities. Too much importance can hardly be attached to 
a museum, used in this way to develop the observing and 
reasoning faculties ; and to add general interest to otherwise 
unmeaning and largely mechanical work. There are other 
schools with museums as well provided and used as 
York Place ; but it will serve my purpose of showing how 
useful they may be made when properly arranged and 



Extra-Official Education Work. 313 

systematically used, even by teachers who themselves may 
not have any other motive in using them other than that the 
principal insists on their doing so. 

A large business is done in Paris in providing specimens 
for school museums. Most schools have one or more 
cabinets known as ^^ musce des ecoles'' This museum for 
schools is a large chest or cabinet of ten drawers, each 
drawer being divided into sixteen compartments. Each 
drawer is devoted to a class of related specimens. Tex- 
tile plants, minerals and metals, casts, fossils and coals, 
products of vertebrate animals, products of invertebrate 
animals, products of the forest, indicate the contents of 
some of the drawers. Generally, each compartment is 
devoted to one material under different forms, or in 
different stages of manufacture. Thus the department 
devoted to flax has the seed, the flax-plant matured, 
pressed specimen of the flower, the raw fibre, each stage of 
manufacture, and the finished linen. In the drawer devoted 
to products of invertebrate animals would be found a com- 
partment devoted to silk, including models of the silkworm 
in various stages, dried mulberry leaf, different sorts of 
cocoons, silk in its various stages of manufacture. In the 
drawer devoted to minerals would be a compartment for 
copper, containing the common forms of copper ore, 
sulphides, oxides, and carbonates, native copper, ore 
dressed for smelting, the " regulus " or " matte " in its 
different stages, the pure copper, sheet copper, copper wire, 
bronze, and bell metal. 

The plan of these school museums is, for convenience, 
economy of space, ease of reference, and completeness, the 
best I have seen anywhere. The enthusiastic teacher would 
in addition have his specimens accessible to the children ; 
but for some time to come, at all events, it is hopeless to 
expect more from the average teacher than that he will 
conscientiously use the specimens provided. For the 



314 Teaching in Three Continents. 

upper classes, the Parisian authorities provide cabinets or 
museums containing the most important apparatus for 
teaching chemistry and physics. In fact, everything is done 
by those controlhng education to make it worthy of the 
name ; and although disappointing in many respects, 
perhaps, taking all things into consideration, their efforts 
may be said to have succeeded as well as those of any I 
have examined. 

Arbor Day. 

The great "treeless region" of the north-west of the 
central valley of the United States has changed its character 
and its people. Boundless prairies are now cattle ranches 
and cultivated fields ; treeless areas have become landscapes 
diversified with groves, woods, and clumps of trees ; the 
bison has disappeared, and his place is taken by uncounted 
herds of cattle; and the savage Indian has given way to 
industrious, thriving settlers. Instead of an occasional 
trapper's camp, are frequent towns and cities rivalling those 
of the East in size and prosperity. The savage, barbarous 
West, with its lawlessness and terrors, becomes wonderfully 
civilised by the time one reaches it. The bloodthirsty 
ruffians are always "further out." The "noble savage" 
appears to have lost his nobility, and become a sort of 
disreputable mixture of the traditional gipsy and tramp ; the 
terrible cow-boy becomes a somewhat rough, but neverthe- 
less a jolly free-and-easy fellow ; and one comes to the con- 
clusion, not that people lied who wrote all the idea-form- 
ing literature of the West, but that things have changed ; 
and that he has failed to understand that the events of 
many years and of large areas have been focussed into one 
spot, and one brief period of time. An incident which is 
remarkable and exceptional enough in a land of stirring 
life to be considered worthy of special notice, must not be 
considered an ordinary incident of daily life. Probably, 



Extra-Official Education JVork. 



3^5 



more revolvers than umbrellas are carried " out West " ; 
but to a large extent it is mere custom. When a case of 
shooting does occur, by the time it has undergone the usual 
exaggerations by word of mouth to the local correspondent, 
who sends his account, which is duly " written up " and 
printed, and then transformed and transferred from one 
journal to another, it is as difficult of recognition by those 
who took part in it, as the incidents of English life which 
the Western people read in their papers, would be by those 
to whom they refer. 

In so far as the planting of trees has aided in the trans- 
formation of the treeless region, the result is largely due to 
what is known as Arbor Day, which is a happy combination 
of a pleasant holiday and one of the most profitable school- 
days of the year. I believe that the State of Nebraska — 
once a vast undulating prairie, but now a prosperous State 
— was the originator of the idea, to which, since 1872, is at- 
tributed the planting of 355,560,000 trees, and which has 
since been taken up by more than three-fourths of the States 
and territories. It is usual for the State Governments to 
establish the day by a short special enactment, making 
Arbor Day a public holiday, for the purpose of affording 
teachers, children, parents and friends, time and opportunity 
to engage in planting trees, shrubs, and vines about the 
homes, the schools, the public highways, and public grounds 
of the State. I have no space, if it were my wish, to give 
the arguments to be met with in nearly all school reports, in 
favour of thoroughly carrying out the spirit of this hohday. 
The usual method of celebrating the day is for the children 
to assemble in the morning, and either have lessons on the 
trees and their uses, or to meet and carry out a programme 
of recitations and singing, interspersed with speeches, all 
having a bearing on the value and beauty of trees. In 
some States, programmes of suitable exercises for the occa- 
sion are issued by the superintendent, and it is made the 



3i6 Teaching in Three Continents. 

duty of the authorities of each school in the State to as- 
semble the pupils in the school building or elsewhere, and 
to provide for and conduct such exercises as shall tend to 
encourage the planting, protecting, and preserving of trees 
and shrubs, and an acquaintance with the best methods to 
accomplish such results. 

During the last few years. Arbor Day has been observed 
in South Australia, and bids fair to take its place among 
the permanent institutions of the Colony. 

School Libraries. 

In England school libraries are rare, in Australia an 
exception. Authorities insist on the mechanical power to 
read, but take little pains to utilise it as a means of educa- 
tion. By it, the pupil must educate himself when he leaves 
school, but no attempt is made to introduce him to his 
instructors. The Sunday-schools have set a worthy example 
in this matter, which it is a thousand pities the authorities 
of day-schools have not followed ; the more so that the 
Sunday-school literature, written for a purpose which it is 
not my intention, were it my inclination, to discuss, is not 
usually of very high literary merit, is untrue to the realities 
of life, and does not tend to broaden, stimulate, and prepare 
a man for the struggles which he will have to encounter, 
any more than it leads him on to the best literature of the 
language. 

The majority of the children have few books at home. 
If they develop a taste for reading, it is in spite of, rather 
than in consequence of, their opportunities. This will be 
disputed by many of my readers who live beneath the 
shadow of Free Public Libraries. Let such remember 
that, before any resident uses the free library, he must have 
the taste and inclination for reading. The Hbrary gives him 
the means of gratifying and intensifying a desire which 



Extra-Official Education Work. 317 

already exists. What proportion of citizens use a public 
library? I am speaking of those who have not yet 
developed the love for reading, to whom it is an undis- 
covered paradise. Some have not, and probably could not 
be given, the taste — more is the pity — although I admit if 
they are thinkers it does not so greatly matter. But there 
are tens of thousands whose time at school produces but a 
fraction of the good it might, were an honest effort made to 
give them a knowledge of and love for good books. True, 
they leave school too soon ; but much could even now be 
done, were the authorities actuated more by a desire for the 
good of the children than by political motives. The training 
of good citizens must be thought more important than party 
feeling, or the wish for public notice. The public must 
recognise that it provides the money, and insist that it shall 
be spent to fulfil to the best purpose the end for which it 
was raised. This requires, first of all, that the people shall 
be intelligent enough to understand the process and aim of 
education ; and the teachers wise enough^ far-seeing enough, 
to detect the tendency of the present plan, which, nominally 
educational, is largely political and financial. Many do, and 
resolve that while performing that part in politics which it is 
the duty of every citizen to take, they will leave the rest to the 
people ; and as long as they are law, will do all that regula- 
tions demand; but, in addition, without reward other than the 
consciousness of duty done, endeavour to make each school 
a centre from which shall radiate good, intelligent citizens, 
more capable of self-government. 

By enlisting the aid of those whose money and whose 
time is ever at the disposal of all who show they are 
actuated by unselfish motives, and wish for the good of the 
children, it is easy to establish school libraries of the best 
books, adopting in the selection the motto " Few but Good," 
rather than " Many and Cheap." 

The work set by the department, for doing which they 



3t8 Teaching in Three Continents. 

receive their small salaries, would then become all that it is 
fit to be — a skeleton round and on which a strong body of 
ideas is built. The library would be an invalual)le help to 
them. People do not read, because they do not know 
sufficient to create the inclination for reading. Knowledge 
of lack of knowledge is at the root of love and desire for 
knowledge; the understanding is at the root of love for 
books. He whose knowledge of human nature does not 
extend beyond that depicted in the penny dreadful, will read 
that literature ; anything higher would not be intelligible to 
him. We learn by doing. To get the young people to 
read, give them power to grasp a book ; and then, by a 
judicious talk, give them a desire to obtain what the book 
will give. A great deal cannot be done at once. Too much 
should not be expected. It is always a problem of indefinite 
solution to decide when a thought will germinate, and still 
more uncertain when it will flower and bear fruit. 

The first aim should be to get the majority of pupils 
to become so absorbed in one or other of the many op- 
tional and supplementary means of indirect education, of 
which school libraries are but one, that they will continue 
to remain associated with school after they leave its walls. 
Where there are free public libraries, the school libraries 
would naturally lead up to them; where there are none, 
they would in a measure supply their place, and be the 
means of their establishment. 

While I know this is practical enough if there is the 
right spirit combined with tact and energy, I am confronted 
with the fact — I had almost said law — that, as a rule, people 
do not work for a higher aim than that which is set them ; 
and often enough fail in reaching that, however low it may 
be. The attainment seems so easy, that they take a " short 
cut " for it ; and a short cut is apt sometimes to prove a 
difficult road. 

I cannot give details of any school libraries in English 



Extra-Official Education Work, 319 

schools. I saw several excellent ones, but find I have 
failed to make notes of them. Where they exist, they were 
due to the enthusiasm of individual teachers or members of 
School Boards, and are not part of a comprehensive plan. 
I have since learnt that every school under the School 
Board for London has its Lending Library. 

There is a useful plan in operation in a number of towns 
which may be better mentioned here than elsewhere. The 
custom of awarding prizes to pupils is frequent in England. 
It is a natural associate of examinations. The difficulty of 
selecting suitable books in quantity is very great, so that the 
School Boards frequently publish lists of books adapted to 
the various departments, from which selections can be made 
when ordering. 

In x\merica, I found that City or State Boards of edu- 
cation frequently make provision for school libraries. In 
California, the law provides for a yearly appropriation of 
fifty dollars to each school district for Hbrary purposes. In 
the cities, it is fifty dollars for every one thousand children 
between the ages of five and seventeen years. The fibraries 
are all free to all pupils, and to residents on payment of a 
fee. The appropriation may be spent in school apparatus, 
and books for supplementary work. The School Board 
does not always have sufficient money for all its purposes, 
and the regulation is read very liberally, so that the library 
money is not always used to add books. Still, all the 
schools have libraries, many of which contain comparatively 
extensive collections of books, showing careful selection and 
signs of good use. 

Chicago provides for school libraries in all her schools. 
The school law of IlUnois allows boards of directors to 
appropriate any surplus funds to the purchase of school 
libraries. There are now one thousand two hundred and 
thirty-nine districts, having libraries containing one hundred 
and sixty thousand volumes. 



320 Teaching in Three Continents. 

In the State of Rhode Island there are thirty-eight free 
hbraries, containing about one hundred and forty-four 
thousand volumes. It is estimated that eighty per cent, of 
the population are within reach of a library; and when a few 
more shall have been established, the State will be able to 
claim the distinction which possibly no other can claim, 
that free schools and free libraries have been placed within 
the reach of the entire population. The public libraries 
serve the very important purpose of harmonising and unify- 
ing the heterogeneous mass of people gathered into the 
State. 

In Dakota, one of the States just admitted into the 
Union, it is thought worthy of report that over three-fourths 
of the schools have an unabridged dictionary, and two 
hundred and seventeen have school libraries which are 
rapidly increasing. 

In Minnesota, "according to the provisions of the law, 
a careful selection of suitable books for the different grades 
of the Public Schools was made, and, after advertising, the 
contract for supplying the schools was awarded to the 
lowest bidder. So far the experiment has proved a decided 
success. 

" The test of one year fully sustains the claims urged 
for the passage of the law. When the people have been 
interested and have ordered books for their children, the 
effect has been wonderful. I am informed of counties, 
largely Scandinavian, in which the districts are generally 
supplied with libraries. The effect of all this is that these 
children are rapidly becoming interested and informed in 
American history and literature. That means they are 
becoming Americans." 

In New Jersey there are eight hundred and forty-two 
school libraries, the appropriation for last year being two 
thousand eight hundred dollars. In Wisconsin, a new and 
sparsely peopled State, thirty-four per cent, of the towns 



Extra-Official Education Work. 321 

have provided school libraries ; while in Colorado the 
law authorises the School Boards to levy a tax of one-tenth 
of a mille for library purposes. 

I have given sufficient instances to show the influence of 
these supplementary provisions for education in the small 
out-of-the-way schools, where the difficulty of obtaining 
books would otherwise be great. I believe country people 
as a rule are better read, though not so versatile as those of 
the city. They are like the sailor's parrot — they think 
more, but talk less, than their town cousins. Their minds, 
like their bodies, are more vigorous ; but are not so highly 
strung. 

In South Australia the need for the school library, 
though still urgent, is not so much felt, on account of the 
number of Public or Institute libraries, which are to be 
found in nearly every township of a few hundred people. 
Sometimes, indeed, in driving through an agricultural 
district of South Australia, a plain substantial building like 
a meeting-house will be seen on the roadside, with no house 
near. If the visitor is uncertain as to its use, he may be 
fairly sure that it is either a Methodist Church or an " In- 
stitute." The church will almost certainly have some 
ecclesiastical feature. Either there will be a dedication 
tablet, or the windows will be of the long, narrow type, with 
frosted glass, which is considered correct in a church — 
every house of worship is a church in Australia — or a grave- 
yard, to denote the use of the structure. 

These Institutes have been built half by public sub- 
scription, and half by subsidy from the Public Treasury. 
The Government also subsidised — pound for pound — all 
money spent in books and general expenses. The subsidy 
has been reduced lately, owing to a tendency of the local 
committees to spend the money on a large hall for concerts 
and entertainments, instead of for more purely educa- 
tional purposes. Some contain well-selected libraries of 
v 



323 Teaching in Three Continents. 

considerable extent, for the use of which a nominal quarterly 
subscription has to be paid. In connection with most there 
are free reading-rooms, in which the leading magazines of 
England and America, and other current literature, together 
with books of reference, are open to all. While acting with 
great liberality in this way, the Government have done 
nothing in the way of providing school libraries. Individual 
teachers have established a few, raising the money by sub- 
scription and by school concerts. 

The following extract from a lecture delivered before the 
Keighley Teachers' Association, by Mr. T. G. Rooper, on 
Elementary Education at the Paris Exhibition, deserves 
mention here : — 

" My attention was next attracted by an exhibit of a 
seemingly useful local society called the Society for Pro- 
viding a Circulating Library for use in the Public Elementary 
Schools in the Canton of Lizy-sur-Ourq. 

"The statutes approved by the Prefet in 1881 are worth 
noting : (i) An association is formed of all persons subscrib- 
ing to the present statutes under the name of the ' Society for 
the Establishment of a Popular Circulating Library for the 
Public Schools in the Canton of Lizy-sur-Ourq;" (2) The 
object of the Society is to establish and maintain a library of 
useful and instructive books for every school in every parish. 
The books are to be renewed annually. All books of a po- 
lemical description, and all religious works, will be excluded. 
The books will be chosen, as far as possible, from the 
catalogue of reading-books published by the Minister of 
Instruction." 

Pupils' Reading Circles. 

The inadequacy of the ordinary school work for the 
education of the pupils is becoming more clearly recognised 
each year. It is not long since the popular idea of educa- 
ti^in embraced little more than being able to read, write, and 



Extra-Official Education Work. 323 

work the simple rules of arithmetic. With the growth of 
the conception of the scope of public-school education, is 
the wish to make the best possible use of every possible 
means, whether they be within the ordinary range of school 
work or not. 

In the United States, but I believe more particularly 
in the middle and north-western States, one of the latest 
devices is the Pupils' Reading Circle. It is organised on 
similar lines to the Teachers' Reading Circles, of which I 
have spoken, and is said to be very popular, and productive 
of much good. The following report of one of the organisa- 
tions will give a clearer idea of their work than a mere 
general statement. 

THE ILLINOIS PUPILS' READING CIRCLE. 

At the meeting of the Illinois State Teachers' Association held in 
Springfield in December, 1888, a resolution was adopted, requesting 
the directors of the Illinois Teachers' Reading Circle to organise a 
Pupils' Reading Circle. In accordance with this resolution, the 
directors proceeded to organise the Circle on the following plan : 

1. That the first year's work should consist of the two following 
grades : 

Intermediate Grade. 

seaside and wayside. stories of our country. 

Advanced Grade, 
health lessons. animal memoirs. stories of the path 

FINDERS. 

The time for the completing of the reading of either of these was to 
be one year. 

2. It was determined that at the close of each year's reading (for the 
first two years) a certificate will be issued to all members who pass a 
satisfactory examination in the recommended course ; and upon the 
same evidence, a diploma will be issued at the close of the third year, a 
seal at the close of the fourth year, and a seal at the close of the fifth 
year, which will show that the member has completed an entire course 
of reading in the Illinois Pupils' Reading Circle. 

v 2 



324 Teaching in Three Continents. 

The first twelve months of the history of the Circle closed January 
I, 1890, and the records show that about thirty-five hundred copies of 
the books have been sent out during the year. No one anticipated 
such a demand for the books. It shows that the Circle meets an actual 
want of the schools. 

At the late meeting of the directors, it was determined to provide 
for three grades at the beginning of the second year. It was also 
ordered that the manager should issue a certificate to every pupil whose 
teacher would certify that the books prescribed for any grade had been 
carefully read. Teachers are respectfully requested to inform their 
pupils upon what condition certificates can be obtained. 



CHAPTER XIII 



PRIVATE MUNIFICENCE IN AMERICA. 

General Remarks— The Rindge School — Mr. Williamson's Trade School 
— The Pratt Institute — Cogswell Polytechnical College — New York 
Trade School — Leland Stanford University — Clark University. 

It is not an uncommon thing, to hear people of intelli- 
gence speak seriously of the American as though his chief 
end in life is the accumulation of dollars. As is usual with 
popular fallacies, there is enough of truth to make the lie 
plausible. However great his propensity for getting may 
be, his freedom in spending is correspondingly great. What- 
ever may be the average American's vices, those of the miser 
are certainly not among them. When we misunderstand, we 
often misjudge. How often this result is due to indifference, 
how much is culpable ignorance, how frequently to lack of 
opportunity, or how much to the spirit which actuated the 
old lady who when asked to attend a lecture on the French, 
replied, " What do I want to know about the French ? 
They are a wicked, light-headed, sensual people, who eat 
horses, dogs, and frogs, and have no respect for Sunday or 
anything good," I will not attempt to decide. I know of 
no people to whom it would not be a blessing, could every 
notion which nine-tenths have of foreign lands and people be 
blotted out, and the whole bundled off under the guidance 
of the remaining tenth to gather new ideas more in accord- 
ance with fact. I insist on the preliminary erasure of old 
notions, because, otherwise, the result would be similar to 
what frequently does happen in the case of those who do 



326 Teaching in Three Continents. 

travel, and effectively prevents their learning anything, by 
their incessant tirades against the people with whom they 
come in contact for not being in the same enlightened 
condition as they modestly consider themselves, or for 
actually presuming to think their way of doing things as 
good as that of the traveller. The tourist who, when on an 
excursion, was indignant at being considered a foreigner, 
informing the natives that she was English and they were 
foreigners, was not more absurd than many others ; but as 
one bird builds her nest to be seen by every passer-by, 
while another hides hers away, so that it can only be seen 
by those who, wise enough to understand her actions, seek 
in the recesses of the hedges for it, so the folly of one 
nature may be small in amount but very evident, innocent 
in character but exceedingly laughable, while another, though 
still more foolish, has yet wit enough to hide his folly from 
the unthinking. 

Were this to be done, I would further advise that 
the American should start with England, and the English- 
man with America, because they are essentially one and 
the same people, but are given to exercising their imagina- 
tions in thinking themselves different. So they are, 
and rightly so ; but frequently in a very different way 
from what is imagined. I think I may safely say that it is 
characteristic of the American that he does not look to the 
Government to do much for him. He is thoroughly self- 
reliant. The same reaction against monarchism, which gave 
him his system of district government, has produced this 
result. He wants money — not because it is money, but 
because it often gives him the power which position gives to 
an Englishman ; and one of the uses he makes of it is to 
relieve distress, which in England or Australia would have 
to be dealt with out of the poor rates or by the authorities 
for the purpose. This comparison is general only. 

But the object of the present chapter is to show some of 



Private Munificence in America. 327 

the results of private liberality in providing education in 
a land where the Governments provide free education from 
the primary grade to the university, and in some of the 
Western States in the university itself. I had not seen it 
stated, and was quite unprepared to find, how frequent and 
large are the sums given to found or support educational 
establishments. I do not think another country can show a 
like record in this respect. I cannot mention many, and I 
have not particulars of some of the largest and most 
important, such as the Sohns-Hopkins, Cornell, Vanderbilt, 
and Vassar Universities. 

I did not see all of the institutions I shall describe. 
Several, indeed, are not yet provided with a local habitation, 
being in course of organisation. References to some will be 
found in the chapters devoted to the work they are carrying 
on. When I did visit them it was usually to see the result 
of the development of an idea under the most favourable 
circumstances. An enthusiastic body of teachers, sup- 
ported by ample funds, often with selected material in the 
shape of picked pupils, and unhampered by the meddling of 
busy-bodies and politicians, who are often the curse of 
public systems, are able to do work and accomplish ends 
unattainable under less favourable conditions. 

My purpose in giving the particulars of private bequests 
is the consideration that the donors were — or are — usually 
such as we are used to hear described as "practical, hard- 
headed, business men," generally men with one strong 
predominating idea to which they attribute all their success ; 
sometimes even men who give their fellows little of their 
sympathy during their lives, but freely, generously, leave 
what has engrossed all their energies, sympathies, and time 
to the custody of others, who, often lacking the faculty of 
accumulating, have highly developed powers of dispersion. 
The predominating idea of these men usually finds exact 
enunciation in their deeds of trust; and on this account 



328 Teaching in Three Continents. 

these documents are always of very great interest to me ; 
and, if to me, by inference, to others. 

When the gift is made during the Hfetime of the donor 
— for the purpose, according to their contemporaries, whose 
criticisms are, however, not always prompted by the most 
charitable motive, of gaining some coveted honour, title, or 
position— the object to which the money is devoted is still 
often determined by similar influences. 

The Rindge School. 

Mr. Rindge has lately presented to the City of Cam- 
bridge, Mass., a fully organised industrial school, with 
funds for its maintenance. In his deed he says : — " I wish 
plain arts of industry to be taught in this school. I wish 
the school to be for boys of average talents, who may in it 
learn how their arms and hands can earn food, clothing, 
shelter for themselves ; how after a time they can support a 
family and a home ; and how the price of these blessings is 
faithful industry^ no bad habits^ and ivise eco7iom}\ ivhich 
price^ by the way, is not dear. I urge that admittance be 
only given to strong boys who will grow up to be able 
working men. Strict obedience to such a rule would tend to 
make parents careful in the training of their young, as they 
would know that their sons would be deprived of the 
benefits of the said school unless they were able-bodied. I 
think the Industrial School would thus graduate many 
young men who would prove themselves useful citizens." 
This is not only interesting as showing the value he attaches 
to a trade ; but that it requires other qualifications besides 
being a good workman to ensure success. 

Mr. Williamson^ s Trade School. 

Mr. G. V. Williamson is providing some two and a 
quarter millions of dollars for the purpose of establishing a 
great trade school in or near Philadelphia. "The great 



Private Munificence in America. 329 

object to be attained," he says, in his deed of trust, "is to 
board, lodge, clothe, educate, and instruct in mechanical 
trades those who, when arrived at manhood, will be obliged 
to labour with their hands for their support." Later on he 
continues, " I especially direct that each scholar shall be 
taught to speak the truth at all times, and I particularly 
direct and charge^ as an imperative duty upon the trustees, 
that every scholar shall be thoroughly trained to habits of 
frugality, economy, and industry, as, above all others, the 
one great lesson which I desire to have impressed upon 
every scholar and inmate of the school is that in this 
country every able-bodied healthy young man who has 
learned a good mechanical trade, and is truthful, honest, 
frugal, temperate, and industrious, is certain to succeed in 
life, and to become a useful and respected member of 
society." 

Here, again, is a " practical " business man emphasising 
with ^450,000 sterling his conviction that even able-bodied, 
healthy young men, with good trades, need to be truthful, 
honest, frugal, temperate, and industrious, to ensure 
success. 

The Pratt Instittcte. 

One of the grandest institutions of its kind in the world, 
is the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, founded after careful study, 
to put into practical form the governing thought of its 
generous founder, Mr. Charles Pratt, that the first essentials 
to success are selfhelpfuhiess and self-respect. Its aim is to 
aid those who are willing to aid themselves. He says, 
" The need of manual training as a developing power is 
scarcely less than that of industrial education — such educa- 
tion as shall best enable men and women to earn their own 
living by applied knowledge, and the skilful use of their 
hands in the various productive industries. Accordingly, 
the Institute seeks to provide facilities by which those 



330 Teaching in Three Continents. 

wishing to engage in mechanical or artistic pursuits may 
acquire a thorough practical and theoretical knowledge 
thereof, or may perfect themselves in that occupation in 
which they are already engaged."^ The Institute, alike in 
the magnificent buildings, beautiful equipment, and the 
splendid work being carried on, is a fitting fulfilment of a 
noble and generous conception. 

Cogswell Polytechnical College^ San Francisco. 

This institution, founded by Dr. H. D. Cogswell, at a 
cost of 180,000 dols., to which he has promised to add 
another 100,000 dols., is for the purpose of " giving boys and 
girls of the State of California a practical training in the 
mechanical arts and other industries. The design is Jiot to 
teach trades, but to fully prepare the student to enter 
successfully on any line of life. The aim is to fully develop 
the boys and girls, mentally, morally, and physically, 
thereby producing self-reliant and self-helpful men and 
women." The school gives a literary education corre- 
sponding to a High School, with the addition of manual 
training — half the time being spent at each kind of work. 
In fact, it corresponds with the St. Louis, Toledo, Chicago, 
and Philadelphia Manual Training Schools, and for the 
present, is being worked in conjunction with the public 
schools of the city. The building and furnishing are of the 
usual fine character adopted in scholastic institutions, the 
" drawing room" being one of the best I have seen. The 
equipment of the workshops is also of that handy and 
neat character which characterises the American " Manual 
School " as compared to the English " Technical 
School." 

* Tuition fees are charged, l)Ut are devoted to the enlargement of the 
free hbrary, for the general use of the city, as well as for the Institute, so 
that the sole cost is borne by the founder. 



Private Munificence in America. 331 . 

Neiu York Trade Schools. 

The founder, Colonel R. T. Auchmaty, in the pro- 
spectus of the school, for the ninth session, says : — " The 
New York Trade Schools were established eight years ago, 
for the purpose of giving young men instruction in certain 
trades, and to enable young men already in those trades 
to improve themselves. Commencing with thirty members, 
during the last seasons we have had over four hundred and 
sixty-nine (469). They are conducted on the principle of 
teachi7ig thoroughly how work should be done, and leaving 
the quickness which is required of a first-class mechanic 
to be acquired at real work, after leaving the school." 

The proprietor has the school carried on as thougli it 
were a business concern, except that he has laid out some 
^30,000, for which he gets no interest, and provides the 
large deficit in the working expenses. He has now built a 
large house, where pupils can secure rooms at eight shillings 
a week ; but in connection with this, he says, " The pro- 
prietor does not assume any control over the young men 
after they leave the workshops. Those who are strangers 
are warned what to avoid, and thus far have conducted 
themselves like earnest young men, who have come to 
New York to learn a trade and not to amuse themselves." 
Here we have a man spending many thousands of dollars 
a year, teaching trades to young men, who, as they pay fefes, 
probably consider the whole in the light of a business. 
This, I believe, is the owner's wish ; in order not to interfere 
with ideas of self-reliance. 

North Bennet Street Industrial School. 

This institution, situated in one of the poorest parts of 
Boston, is one of the most interesting I visited. Attracted 
by the school-like aspect of the building, I called, in a 



332 Teaching in Three Continents. 

casual way, during the dinner hour at a neighbouring 
pubhc school, which I have mentioned elsewhere, on account 
of its work in teaching so many foreign immigrants to speak 
English. Finding it to be the centre of an organisation, in 
its totality unlike anything I had seen elsewhere, although 
organisations for the accomplishment of one or other of its 
individual parts are to be met with frequently enough, I 
paid a number of visits, each time becoming the more 
impressed, as much with the greatness of the work done as 
with the quiet, thorough, unassuming methods of organisa- 
tion and work. It would be almost as easy to say what is 
not done as to enumerate the branches of work, carried 
on at an annual cost of some ;£"5,ooo sterling. Though 
carried on by an association, its benefactors are not known : 
" in deference to the wishes of the contributors, no list of 
names has ever been published." 

So deep-seated is the habit of estimating all things by a 
short- sighted economic standard, that it seems sometimes a 
hopeless undertaking to make an intelligent answer to the 
question, " What is this school for ?" If one could be made 
here, it would be something like this : " The chief aim 
of the school is identical with that of all other good 
schools — to give education ; a difiference being the use 
of both manual and intellectual work for educational 
purposes. A prime object of the school is also to show 
what results may be expected from the manual training 
which rests on an educational basis, and to hasten its 
introduction into the Boston public schools." This explains 
the fitting up of work-rooms for Kindergarten, clay model- 
ling, drawing, Sloyd, carpentry, printing, shoemaking, cook- 
ing, millinery, and dressmaking, where pupils from the 
public schools attend for free instruction during the day, 
and in which classes are held in the evenings for those who 
are employed during the daytime. Over one thousand 
pupils attend the day classes, and about three hundred 



Pru'ate Munificence in America. 333 

the evening. The above statement does not, however, 
account for the provision for free baths, game clubs, social 
clubs, drill, gymnasia for boys and girls, library, and a 
number of other departments, not forgetting a day nursery 
where over one hundred little ones, nearly all the children 
of foreign immigrants, chiefly Italians, Polish Jews, French, 
and Hungarians, are cared for while their mothers are away 
at work. 

One of the chief supporters of this association is Mrs. 
Quincy Shaw, daughter of the great American naturalist, 
Agassiz. Either by her unaided effort, or together with the 
above association, she established in close connection with 
many of the public schools of the city free Kindergartens, 
which she supported for years. The pupils were passed 
into the primary grades of a school as though the Kinder- 
garten were part of the establishment. The value as an 
educational preparation for the public school was thus 
demonstrated, and so impressed have the School Board 
been, that they have taken them over as part of their 
system, and are now establishing them in connection with 
other schools. 

This illustrates how most of the reforms in educational 
procedure are brought about in America, and is analogous 
to the experiment of the City and Guilds of London 
Technical Institution, which I have described under 
Manual Training. 

Leland Stanford^ Junior^ University^ California. 

California has been well supplied with facilities for higher 
education in her several Universities, the foremost being the 
University of the Pacific, endowed to the extent of about 
five million dollars. Senator Leland Stanford, however, is 
organising one to be named after his son, on a scale of mag- 
nificence never before known. It is situated at Menlo Park, 
and is intended to carry out Senator Stanford's ideas of fitting 



334 Teaching in Three Continents. 

men and women for honest self-support. In one of his ad- 
dresses he said : " I am particularly anxious that the young 
men who by thousands are graduated from the colleges of 
the land and sent forth weaponless, so to speak, shall find 
here an opportunity to take up some speciality. We shall 
teach the classics, and in fact everything, beginning with the 
Kindergarten ; but we shall also teach the specialities, so 
that young men and women will not be without a knowledge 
of a speciality on graduation. We shall fit all the students 
for some active calling in life. I hope the University will 
have a standing from the start. Eventually, I hope that it 
will have several thousand students. The real problem is, 
JTow to realise the possibilities of the Students." 

The Senator's ideas may not be very well defined, but 
with an endowment of from fifteen to twenty million dollars 
there should be scope for realising possibilities ; but it will 
require the influence of that great equaliser Time to say 
just how. 

Clark U?iiversity. 

Jonas G. Clark is a " self-made man." A native of 
Massachusetts, a carriage maker by trade, a successful Cali- 
fornian gold digger, a more successful investor in New York 
city, an American millionaire, he yet has found time to de- 
velop a great and grand idea as opposite to money-gathering 
as can be imagined. It is " to promote science for its own 
sake and not for its marketable aspects, to extend the fron- 
tier of human knowledge that the world's store of wisdom 
may be increased, and next, in order that the new facts 
brought to light may contribute to the advancement of the 
race, that as all civilised communities are in the hands of 
experts, that the man who has special and extensive know- 
ledge on any given subject, is the man whose verdict decides 
important points at issue, and sways the opinion of the mul- 
titude, the provision of a home for the training of experts 



Private Munificence in America. 335 

and where investigators may carry on original research is a 
necessity." Imbued with this idea, Mr. Clark spent eight 
years studying into the history and working of the univer- 
sities of Europe and America, and on his return set to work 
to prepare a home for the consummation of his ideas. The 
result is a pile of buildings of brick and granite almost as 
plain— though more substantial — as a factory outside, but 
inside fitted without regard to expense in the most hand- 
some and convenient way. In this it is typical of American 
educational establishments. They are not architecturally as 
handsome and costly as those of Europe ; but in so far as 
convenience, adaptability, and comfort go, they are as great 
an improvement as a Pullman car is on a third-class Euro-" 
pean railway carriage. In State capitals, court-houses, and 
post-offices in the United States, there is often as great a 
waste on architectural ornament in dressed stone, with as 
litde adaptability to the purposes for which they are built, 
as in the museum of Owens College, Manchester, or the 
University of Adelaide in Australia; but in buildings in- 
tended for school purposes, what I have said of Clark 
University will generally apply. There are exceptions, of 
course, generally in the case of high schools built at public 
expense. 1'hat at Denver, Colorado, for example, has a 
central hall and staircase suitable for the palace of the Czar, 
altogether out of place in a public school. 

I might add many more accounts of institutions, prac- 
tical embodiments or dominating ideas ; but I think I have 
given sufficient to illustrate my purpose. There are many 
noble instances of similar appropriations in England ; but 
they are not nearly so numerous or so hberal as in 
America. 



INDEX. 



Absence of teachers, 256 
" Academies," 33 
Academy inspectors, France, 34 
Adelaide University, 46, 335 
Advertising educational facilities, 5 
Agassiz Association, The, 307 
Age of scholars, 11, 287 
Alaska, 9 

Alumni, American, 296 
America : National motto, i ; citizens 
made from the scourings of Europe, 
70 ; the Kindergarten, 79; Kinder- 
garten rooms, 83 ; teachers and 
the blackboard, 92 ; citizens, con- 
versational powers, 104 ; manual 
training in, 117; sewing in, 130; 
science teaching in, 142 ; domestic 
economy, teaching in, 154 ; interest 
taken in education, 176 ; excellence 
in teaching, 182 ; normal schools, 
184 ; proportion of normal gradu- 
ates, 197 ; conduct of public busi- 
ness in, 210 ; general interest in 
education, 211 ; good behaviour of 
scholars, 242 ; schoolhouses, 244 ; 
playgrounds, 248 ; adtiptability of 
buildings for work, 256 ; fondness 
for comfort in, 268 ; elaborate 
ventilating machinery in schools, 
267 ; universities, 295 ; school 
libraries, 319 ; liberahty, 327 
Arbor Day, 314 
Architecture in America, 335 
Arkansas, Proportion of male and 

female teachers in, 234 
Assembly, Fatiguing nature of, 256 
Association of school superintendents, 

206 
Athenian's idea of education, 60 
Attendance agent, 293 
Attendance and compulsion, 290 
" Attention " in examinations, 53 
Australia : Educational system in, 36 ; 
sewing in, 130 ; teachers' associa- 
tions in, 215 ; playgrounds, 248 ; 
school-houses, 259 ; the ballot in, 
292 ; authority in schools, 275 ; 
authors popular in reading circles, 
218 

W 



Baden, Compulsion in, 287 

Baltimore, Manual training in, 118, 
127 

Ballard, Mr. H. H. , 308 

Bavaria, Compulsion in, 287 

Beautiful, The, 131 

Berlin, Class-room accommodation 
in, 281 

Birds, KiUingof, 311 

Birmingham, Plan of science teach- 
ing in, 151 

Blackboard work in America, 107, 269 

Blair Bill, The, 8, 9, 234 

Blow, Miss, and Kindergartens, 80 

Board schools : Eng. , 27 ; versus 
private schools, 177 

Boards, Educational, 11 ; functions 
of, 12, 14 

Boone on Education, 4 

Boston, ]Mass. , 50; Kindergartens 
in, 80, 89 ; specimen of a science 
lesson in, 166 ; proportion of male 
and female teachers in, 234 ; num- 
ber of pupils to a teacher in, 278 

Boys, Playing propensities of, 250 ; 
number of compared to girls, 282 ; 
causes of their leaving school early, 
282 

" Bridle-joint," Lesson on the, 113 

Brighton Natural History Club and 
Recreation Society, 303 ; school 
museum, 312 

British School Society, 27 

Brooklyn, 49 

Buildings, School, 241 

Bureau of Education, 6, 23 

Bvirgen schools, 36 

"Busy Work," 72, 78; in French 
infant schools, 265 

Butler, Dr. N. M. , on Manual train- 
ing, 118 

California, 11, 12, 13 ; }>roportion of 
male and female teachers in, 234 

Californians, courteous bearing of, 
240 

Calisthenics, 252 

Canadian Dominion, its provinces, 2 

Cane, The, in Irish schools, 116 



338 



Index. 



Card catalogues in libraries, 226 

Cassell's illustrated works in South 
Australia, 95 ; manual training dia- 
grams, 113; "Hand and Eye" 
training, 114 

Centralisation, 17; in Australian colo- 
nies, o;j 

Century Magazine on age of boys 
leaving school, 285 

Certificates to teachers, 18, 179 ; in 
the States, 204 

Cliallis, J. H. , 42 

Chapman, E, O. , on reading circles, 
218 

Chautauqua University, 220 

Cheerful appearance of American and 
Australian school-houses, 259 

Chicago, 49 ; manual training in, 
118; proportion of male and fe- 
male teachers in, 234 ; number of 
pupils to a teacher in , 280 ; boy 
and girl scholars in, 284 ; compul- 
sion in, 292 ; school libraries, 319 

Child-education, Frobel on, 66 

Children, poor Parisian, looked after, 
263 

Cincinnati, 51 

City and Guilds of London Institute, 
113, 122 

City normal schools, United States, 
184 

City superintendents, 12, 13 

Clark University, 334 

Classes, Number of children in, 256, 
273, 276 

Cleveland, Manual training in, 118 

Cogswell Poly technical College, 330 

Colour, Teaching children, 72 

Coloured population. The, 9, 21, 279 

Coloured pupils, Number to a teacher, 
279 ; in general, 286 

Colorado and libraries, 321 

Columbia, District of, number of 
pupils to a teacher in, 278 

Compulsion, 286 

Compulsory education, 17, 21, 22 ; 
in France, 34 ; Germany, 36 ; 
Australia, 38 ; New South Wales, 
41 ; Victoria, 42 ; South Australia, 
43 ; in general, 286 

Congress, 3 

Constitution of the States, 2 

Continuation schools, 287 

Cork County normal school, 155, 189 

Cookery, Lessons in, 117 ; in Eng- 
land, 130 ; in America, 131 ; in 



New York City and Washington, 
133 ; in Philadelphia normal school, 
186; cost of, 137 

Cooper, Mrs. S. B. , and Kinder- 
garten, 82 

Copying, 271 

Corporal punishment, Extent of, in 
America, 258 

County normal schools, U.S., 184 

County superintendents, 12, 13, 19 

Course in Philadelphia normal school, 
185, 188 

Courses of reading circles, 217 

Cramming, 30 

Criticisms on the South Australian 
code, 57 

Dairy- work. Lessons in, 117 

Dakota, Teachers' institutes in, 200 ; 
number of pupils to a tcaclier in, 
278 ; libraries in, 320 

Decorum of American scholars, 251 

Definition maps, 95 

Degrees, Australian University, 40 ; 
American, 297 

Delsark system of calisthenics, 240 

Denver fiigh School, 335 

" Departmental Council," 33 

Depressing air of Paris schools, 262 

Desks, 271 ; in infant schools, 74 

Dickenson, Mr. J. W. , 14 

Dinners for Parisian school children, 
263 

Discipline of American teachers, 183 ; 
mistaken, 257 ; secret of American, 
258 

District system, Ihe, 15 

District schools in Michigan, 19 ; in 
America, 229 

Districts, Educational, 2, 11 

Domestic economy, 154 

" Double-banking," 256 

Draper, Hon, A. S. , and drawing 
syllabus, 99 

Draper, Superintendent, 199 

Drawing, 31 

Drawing and form study, 96 ; sylla- 
bus in New York, 99 ; in England, 
96 ; in United States, 97 ; an in- 
adeciuate term, 99 ; Colonel Par- 
ker's mode of teaching, 191 ; les- 
sons on blackboards, 270 

Dresden, Class-room accommodation 
in, 281 

Dublin Schools, Manual training in, 
11=; 



IXDEX. 



339 



Dumb-bells, 232 

" Ecoles maternelles,'" 266 

Economy as affecting the proportion 
of the sexes among teachers, 235, 
236 

I'Zducation Department in England, 
26 ; difficulties of, 28 ; its false 
principle, 90 

" Education," Meanings of, 60 

Education as a science, 202 

Education Gazette, The, 139 

Educational papers in England, 174 

England, Education in, 24 ; sewing 
in, 130 ; science teaching in, 142 ; 
compulsor}^ education in, 287 ; 
school museums in, 311 

English schoolroom pictures, 93 ; 
Education Department's functions, 
198 ; prejudices against Board 
schools, 246, 254 ; school build- 
ings, 247 ; playgrounds, 248 ; 
school buildings, 252; estimate of 
American education, 295 

Enterprise, Business and educational 
progress, 102 

Examinations of teachers, 18 ; in 
Australia, 40, 51 ; in New South 
Wales, 52 ; in Victoria, 53 ; in 
South Australia, 53 ; dominating 
effect of, 75 

Examples of examination questions, 

55 
' ' Exercises, ' ' 176 

Eactory Act, 75 

" Faculty," The term, in America, 
296 

P'amily chapters of the Agassiz Club, 
308 

Federal Government, The, Conserva- 
tive and Sociahstic, 3 

Fees in New South Wales, 41 ; in 
Victoria,. 42 ; in South Australia, 
44, 45 ; in public school systems, 

254 
Female teachers, 235 
Fining teachers, 52 
Finsbury Technical School, 117 
Foreigners, Effect of, in education in 

United States, 69 
Form, Teaching children, 72 
Form-study, 99, 103 
Forster's, ^Ir. , Education Act, 4, 25 
Farming, Lessons in, 116 
France, Compulsory education in, 287 



Free education in England, 26 ; 
France, 34 ; Australia, 39 ; Vic- 
toria, 42 

Free meals in France, 264, 266 

French system of public education, 
33 ; infant schools, 265 

Frobel's manage and system, 65 ; 
his " Mother- Play and Nursery 
Songs," 67 

Furniture in St. Louis Kindergartens, 
85 ; in schools, 268 

Games in infant schools, 74 

German : Showy military order, 3 ; 
educational system, 35 ; universi- 
ties, 36 ; examinations, 48 ; techni- 
cal education, 109 ; lithographic 
pictures, 113 ; method of training 
teachers, 178 ; care of ventilation, 
267 ; compulsory education, 287 

Girls, Secondary education of, in 
South Australia, 44 ; number of 
compared with boys, 282 ; longer 
at schools than boys, 284 

Gove, Mr. Aaron, 51 

Governments of Canada and the 
States, 2 

Graduating in America, 295 

Grammar school, 11 

" Grant payments," 26, 30 

Graphic, The, in .South Australia, 95 

Grasnevin model farms, 116 

Grove Hill board school, Hudders- 
field, 301 

Guilds, Teachers', in England, 174 

Half-timers, 287 

Hall, Dr. E. S. , 4 

Hamburg, Class-room accommoda- 
tion in, 281 ; compulsion in, 287 

Hand-and-eye education, 62 ; sum- 
mary of scheme of training, 115 

Harris, the Hon. W. T. , 7 

Harris, Dr., and Kindergartens, 80, 
85 ; on American school discipline, 
258, 273 

Hartley, Mr. J. A., on science teach- 
ing, 170 

Heating schools, 266 

High schools, 11; number of pupils 
to a teacher in, 279 ; in Michigan, 
20 

Higher instruction, France, 35 

Honesdale summer normal school, 
221 

Huddersfield School Board and 



;4o 



Index, 



number of pupils to a teacher, 277 ; 
natural history society, 299 
Huxley, Professor, on science teach- 
ing, 147 

Idaho, compulsion in, 288 

Illinois teachers' reading circle, 217, 
218 ; boy and girl scholars in, 285 ; 
compulsion in, 291, 292; school 
libraries in, 319 ; pupils' reading 
circle, 323 

Illiteracy, 9 

Illiterate, The, in society, 4 

Illustrated London Neios in Soiuh 
Australia, 95 

Illustrated papers in schools, 91 

Indiana reading circle, 218 

Indianapolis, 49 

Industrial education, 62 ; drawing in 
Massachusetts, 98 ; school in 
America, 117 ; training in Paris, 
127 ; educational association of 
New York, 213 ; education de- 
partment of the Mus^e Pdda- 
gogique, 224 

Infant schools, English, 74 ; pictures 
in, 76 ; the French, 265 

Infant School Act needed, 76 

Influence of good teachers, 276 

Inspector -General in France, 34; 
South Australia, 43 

Inspectors in England, 27, 28 ; in 
New South Wales, 42 ; in South 
Australia, 53 

Institutes in South Australia, 321 

Iowa reading circle, 218 

Jefferson, 4 

Jermyn Street Museum, 32 

Kansas course of reading circle, 217 

Kent, Chancellor, 4 

Kmdergartens, 7, 63 ; gifts and occu- 
pations, 67 ; instruction, 72 ; mis- 
named in England, 78 ; tables, 74 ; 
private, in England, 79 ; hours of 
attendance in, 84 ; for negro child- 
ren, 86 ; cost of tuition in, 87 ; 
opposition to, 89 ; teachers, 82, 85, 
87; work, 112; relation to manual 
training, 124 ; in Philadelphia, 185, 
187 ; their defect in St. Louis, 187 ; 
in Cork County normal school, 189 ; 
tables, 268 ; number of pupils to a 
teacher in St. Louis, 279, 332 

Kitchens in Paris schools, 264 



Ladies' schools, Germany, 36 
Lady teachers, why encouraged, 235 
Land devoted to education, 6 
Lane, Dr., on manual instruction, 

123 
Language lessons in United States, 

69 ; and form study, 104 
Leeds, Plan of science teaching in, 
151 ; Higher Grade School, 247, 
252 ; fees of, 254 
Leland Stanford University, 333 
Lethbridge, Mr. E. B. , 304 
Libraries, Teachers', in England, 
174 ; normal school, 187 ; of Cork 
County normal school, 193; school, 
316 ; society for providing, 322 
Library, Educational, at Washing- 
ton, 226 
Lighting schools, 266 
Liverpool and technical instruction, 
112; cookery schools in, 131; 
plan of science teaching in, 15T, 
154 ; teachers' guild of, 175 ; 
teachers' guild, 213 ; school build- 
ings, 247, 252 
Location, Teaching children, 72 
London School Board and technical 
instruction, 113, 117 ; report on 
science teaching, 149 ; school 
buildings, 247, 252 ; number of 
pupils to a teacher, 277 ; libraries, 

319 
Long Island City, Proportion of male 
and female teachers in, 234 ; visitors 
to schools, 240 

MacAlister, Superintendent, 132 ; on 
women as teachers, 237 

McGreen, Professor C. H., on 
teachers' institutes, 199 

Manual training, 62, no ; in Dub- 
lin, 116; in America, 117, 118; 
teachers' opinions of, 119 ; in 
New York, 121 ; in Washing- 
ton, 122; in Springfield, Mass., 
123 

Manual training school. The, 124 

Maps in America, 93 ; in South 
Australia, 94 ; modelling in sand, 

95 

Marenholtz, Baroness, 67 

Marks, Allotment of, in South Aus- 
tralia, 54, 56 

Massachusetts, 14 ; institute of tech- 
nology, 117; summer school, 221 ; 
proportion of male and female 



Index. 



341 



teachers in, 234 ; number of pupils 
to a teacher in, 278 ; compulsion 
in, 287 

Maternal schools of Paris, 'j-j 

Mechanical nature of teaching in 
England, 30 

Mechanics, Syllabus of study in, 152; 

"Mental effort" and "mental cul- 
ture " in examinations, 53 

Michigan State system, 17; State 
board of education, 18 ; mining 
school in, 20 ; State superinten- 
dent on the institiUe, 203 

Military drill, 252 

Mining school in Michigan, 20 

Minneapolis, Proportion of male and 
female teachers in, 234 

Minnesota and libraries, 320 

Missouri, Number of pupils to a 
teacher in, 278 ; compulsion in, 
291 ; ballot in, 292 

Modelling, Teaching children, 72 

Monastic idea of education, 61 

Morals and manners. Teaching child- 
ren, 72 

Morley, Mr. S. L,, 300 

Musee P^dagogique of Paris, 222 ; 
summary of its contents, 224 

Museum, educational, at Washing- 
ton, 226 

Melbourne Training College, Princi- 
pal's report on science teaching, 
171 ; Naas, no 

National University, A, 8 ; museum, 
8 ; art training school, 32 ; training 
college, Dublin, 115 ; education 
association of America, 175, 205 ; 
association for promoting technical 
and secondary education, 212; 
educational association, England, 
212 
Natural history clubs, 155 ; societies, 

299 
Natural Science, 139 
Naturalists, American society of, 159 
Nebraska, Compulsion in, 289 ; Ar- 
bor Day, 315 
Necrology Committee, 209 
" New Education," The, 60 
New Hampshire, Proportion of male 

and female teachers in, 234 
New Jersey committee on manual 
training, 118 ; number of pupils to 
a teacher in .schools, 280 ; compul- 
sion in, 289 ; libraries, 320 



New Mexico, Proportion of male and 

female teachers in, 234 
Newport, U.S., Compulsion in, 290 
New South Wales, Educational sys- 
tem in, 40 ; science teaching in, 171 
Newspaper Cyclopaedia, A, 193 
New York City, Manual instruction 
in, 121 ; trade schools, 331 ; 
Teachers' Institute in, 203; pro- 
portion of male and female 
teachers in, 234 ; number of pupils 
to a teacher in, 278 ; compulsion 
in, 289 
New York College, Science teaching 

in, 168, 213 
New Zealand boards of education, 

37 ; education in, 46 
Normal school of science, 32 
Normal schools, France, 35 ; in 
America, 181, 184 ; number of 
pupils to a teacher, 279 
North Dakota Convention, The, 9 
North Bennet Street industrial school, 

331 
Number of pupils under one teacher, 
277 

Occupation work lor children, 72 
" Official " science teaching, 140 
Ohio course of reading circle, 217 
Oral instruction for children, 72 
Order of American schools, 257 ; 

English schools, 274 
Organisation of schools, 273 
Ormerod, Miss E, A., 302 
Ormond College, Victoria, 43 
Owens College, 335 ; museum, 222 

Paris, Examinations in, 49; industrial 
training in, 127 ; course of study, 
128 ; scholars and visitors, 241 ; 
school-buildings, 260 ; class-room 
accommodation in, 281 

Parisian school museums, 313 

Parker, Col. F. W., 189 

Peabody, Mrs. M, H, , on Kinder- 
garten, 73 

Pedagogical museum, 7; societies, 
204 ; libraries and museums, 222 

Pedagogics, Chairs of, 204 

Pennsylvania, Compulsion in, 290 

Permanency of teachers' position, 
180, 198 ' 

Philadelphia, 50 ; Kindergartens in, 
80, 81 ; manual training in, 118, 
127 ; cookery school, 132 ; normal 



342 



Index. 



schools, 184 ; proportion of male 
and female teachers in, 234 ; com- 
pulsion in, 290 

Physical exercise for children, 71 ; 
in American high schools, 187 

Pianos in schools, 74; in Kinder- 
gartens, 87; in schools, 252 

Pictures in schoolrooms, 90 

Pigeon, Lessons from a, 86 

Playgrounds, 248 

Poor districts. Infant schools in, 76 

Poor children, Cruelty of exhibiting, 

77 

Population, Distribution ot the, in 
the States, 9 ; in Australia, 37 

Position, Teaching children, 72 

Practical education, 62 

"Practical" members of school 
boards, 141 

Prang Educational Company, 102 ; 
normal drawing class, 103 ; form 
studying in Washington, 122 

Pratt Institute, The, 329 

President's, The, powers, 3 

Primary school, 11 ; instruction in 
France, 34; Germany, 36; inspec- 
tors in France, 34 , classes in 
United States, 68 

Principal, The American, 296 

Private munificence in America, 325 

Prizes, Books as, 319 

Professors, American, 296 

Programme of Rhode Island Insti- 
tute, 207 

Proportion of girls and boys in 
schools, 282 

Providence, Proportion of male and 
female teachers in, 234 

Provisional schools in South Aus- 
tralia, 43 

Public library, St. Louis, and Kinder- 
garten, 227 

Public versus private management of 
education, 255 

Publicity, Love of, amongst Ameri- 
cans, 6 

Pupil teacher system not common, 
197 

Pupil teachers in Australia, 38, 40, 
178 ; number of, in England, 197 

Pupils, Distribution of, in England, 
27 ; Methods of promoting, 49 ; 
number under one teacher, 276 

Pupils' reading circles, 322 

Psychology as a lasis for education, 
62 



Qualities of objects. Teaching child- 
ren, 72 
Queensland, Education in, 46 

Raymenton, Dr. W. H. , 305 
Reading circles. Teachers', 216 ; in- 
fluence of, 227 ; for pupils, 322 
" Realschule," 36 
Recitations, 193, 197 
Recreation Society, Brighton, 303 
Relief maps, 95 

Religious denominations and educa- 
tion, 25, 29 
Religious teaching, Australia, 38 
Renaissance, Education in the period 

of the, 61 
Report on Sloyd, 11 1 
Resolutions Committee, 209 
Result examinations. Evils of, 58 
Result payments, 52 
Rhode Island Educational Associa- 
tion, 17 ; teachers' congress at, 
176 ; Institute, 206 ; proportion of 
male and female teachers in, 234 ; 
compulsion in, 289 ; libraries, 320 
Rice, Professor W. North, 159 
Ricks, Mr. George, and manual 

training, 114 
Rindge School, The, 328 
" Roll of Honour " in America, 270 
Roman Catholic schools, 28 
Roman's idea of education, 61 
Rooper, Mr. T. G. , on elementary 

education, 322 
" Round tables," Schoolmasters' 205 
Royal School of Mines, 32 
Ruskin on natural history, 301 

St. Louis, Kindergarten in, 83 ; 
manual training in, 118, 124 ; 
course of study, 126 ; natural 
science in, 156 ; proportion of 
male and female teachers in, 234; 
number of pupils to a teacher in, 
278 ; school rules in, 294 

vSt. Paul, Proportion of male and 
female teachers in, 234 

San Francisco, 51 ; Kindergartens 
in, 82; school pictures, 91; Pro- 
portion of male and female teachers 
in, 234; reception of visitors in 
schools, 239 ; burning of High 
School, 249 

Salary of teachers in Victoria, 52 ; in 
South Australia, 52 ; in poor dis- 
tricts, 'j'j 



IXDEX. 



343 



Saxony, Compulsion in, 287 
Scliooi-buildings and accessories, 
243 ; in Australia, 38 ; in Queens- 
land, 46 
School furniture, 268 ; chapters of 
the Agassiz Club, 308 ; museums, 
309 ; libraries, 316 
School Boards in Michigan, 18 
Schoolmaster, Attributes of the ideal, 

243 

Schools out West, 6 ; Board and 
voluntary, compared, 29 ; English 
and American, cause of differences 
in, 176 ; odd use of the name, in 
Washington, 195 ; English, dif- 
ferences between, 212 

Science and Art Department, 31, 
no, 114 

Science, A "lesson" in, 167 

Science teaching, 139 ; plan of Eng- 
lish school boards, 151 ; method of 
instruction, 153 

Scotch Education Board, 28 

Scotch elementary education, 32 

Secondary instruction, France, 35 ; 
Germany, 36 ; Australia, 40 ; New 
South Wales, 41 ; Victoria, 42 

Separate room system in America, 
258 ; in Paris and Germany, 258 ; 
in London, 258 ; in Australia, 259 

Sewing, 130 

Sexes of scholars, 282, 284 ; of 
teachers, 233 

Shaw, Mrs. Q. A., and Kinder- 
gartens, 80, 333 

Shaw, Professor Hill, 112; on tech- 
nical education, 214 

Singing in negro Kindergartens, 86 

Slates for drawing in the States, 100 : 
substitute for, in France, 265 

Sloyd, 63, Tio 

Smith, Walter, and drawing, 97 

Smithsonian Institution, The, 7 

Smithson, James, 7 

Society, A, for providing circulating 
libraries, 322 

Songs of infant schools, 74 

South Australia, Educational system 
in, 43 ; science teaching in, 168, 
172 ; technical education conmiis- 
sion report, 170; proportion of 
male and female teachers in, 235 ; 
number of pupils to a teacher in, 
278; Arbor Day in, 316; school 
libraries in, 326 

South Kensington Museum, 32 



Special Schools, France, 35 

Specialists, On, 145 

Spelling books in America, 271 

Spelling lessons, 271 

" Splendid Fivers," 75 

Springfield, Mass., Manual instruc- 
tion in, 123 ; proportion of male 
and female teachers in, 234 

State superintendents, 12 

State Agricultural College, Michigan, 
20 ; reform schools, 21 ; school in 
Victoria, 42 ; normal schools, 
U.S., 184; associations of educa- 
tion, 206 

vStatus of teachers, 231 

Stockwell, Mr., 17 

Strangers, Effect of, on teachers, 238 

Substitutes, Teachers', 256 

Summer schools for teachers, 219 ; 
influence of, 227 

Superannuation and Widows' Fund, 
South Australian Teachers', 215 

Superintendent, The school, 12 

Superintendent of public instruction, 
State, 19 

Supervisor of drawing in the States, 
100 

Supreme Court, The, 3 

" Surprise Visit," 53 

Sydney University, 42 

Syllabus of cookery lessons in America, 
133; of science lessons, 156 

Symbols in teaching, 66 

Tait, Mr. S. B., on Huddersfield 

Natural History Society, 299 
Tarbell, Superintendent, 207 
Teachers, District, in Michigan, 19 
Teachers in England, 28 ; complaints 
of, 56 ; opinions of Kindergarten 
work, 73 ; diligence, 76 ; require- 
ments of in manual training, 119; 
ideas of on science teaching, 165 ; 
tlieir training, 173 ; social status 
in England and America, 175 ; 
special features of English and 
American, 182 ; Proportion ot 
male and female, 233 ; and stran- 
gers, 238 ; their private rooms, 
270 ; instructions to in San Fran- 
cisco schools, 71 
Teachers' associations, 204, 219, 227 ; 
excursion, 215 ; reading circles, 
216; Guild, Liverpool, 112; Guilds, 
]£ngland, 206, 212 ; associations, 
Australia, 206, 215; institutes, 19, 



344 



IXDEX, 



20; institutes, 197; object of, 200, 

219 
Teaching, Importance of the pro- 
fession of, 120 ; quality of, and 

the sexes, 234 
Technical Education, 62 ; English 

conception of, 108 ; definition of 

in Act of 1889, no; in America, 

117 
Testing educational work, 48 
Text-books in South Australia, 168 
' Three Kingdoms " handbook, 309 
Thursday holiday in Paris, 262 
Toledo, manual training in, n8, 127 
Toronto, 51 ; Kindergartens in, 81 ; 

women versus men teachers in, 

234, 238 
Townships, The, 2, 11, 18 
Town superintendents, 12 
Trade schools, H2 
Training colleges in England, 178 
Training teachers, Method of, in 

England, 177 ; in America, 181 ; 

influence of auxiliary means of, 227 
Treasury, Vote from the, 27 
Truant Offices, 290, 293 
Tuition, Cost of, in United States, 87 
Tuley, Mrs., 292 

" Ungraded schools," 19 
Union, The, how formed, 2 
United States, Education in, i ; ex- 
aminations in, 49 ; normal schools 
in, 184 ; teachers in, 181 ; teachers' 
institutes in, 197 ; school-houses 
in, 244 
Universities, Australian, 40 ; English 

and American compared, 297 
" Untrained." American teachers, 
201, 219, 296 



Utah, Truportiun cjf male and female 

teachers in, 234 
Utilitarian education, 62 

Ventilation of schools, 266 

Victoria, educational system in, 42 ; 
University, 42 ; report by Inspec- 
tor-General of, on science teaching. 
171 ; science teaching in, 172 

Visitors to schools, Advice as to, 
241 

Vittoria Place, manual training at, 
113, 120 

Voluntary schools, Eng. , 27 

Walker Engineering College, 112 

Washington, Education board in, 
21 ; lack of schools in, 22 ; su- 
perintendent in, 23, 50; manual 
instruction in, 122; cookery school, 
132, 137 ; normal schools in ; edu- 
cational museums, 226 ; propor- 
tion of male and female teachers 
in, 234 

Washington, George, 4, 

" Webster's Unabridged, 

Wesleyan schools, 28 

Whole education, 62 

Williamson's, Mr. G. V. , 
328 

" Wilson Hall," Victoria, 

Wisconsin and libraries, 320 

Women as teachers in London, 233 ; 
position in the United States, 286 

Women's Club, The, 293 

Woodward, Dr., 118, 124 

Worcester Natural History Camp, 
305 

Zurich, Compulsion in, 287 



22 
270 



trust deed, 



43 



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